School board supports leaving CIML

The Marshalltown Bobcats are one step closer to entering a new era in their high school athletics history.

At the Monday Marshalltown Community School Board meeting, Superintendent Theron Schutte resolved to break off into a separate conference. The action would separate the district from the Central Iowa Metropolitan League (CIML) for the 2022-23 school and athletic year. The resolution passed unanimously.

In a letter, the school board states as one of the reasons for the separation, "The CIML lacks parity among its current member schools and therefore results in contest between teams that are competitively mismatched, and this has the effect of discouraging participation of students from those schools including Marshalltown that have suffered from this lack of parity."

The discussion among the board was short, as Schutte gave his summary of the notice given by him and Athletics Director Ryan Isgrig at the last school board meeting.

"The Marshalltown Community School District Board of Directors wishes to join a new or existing conference that will provide Marshalltown students with a more competitive and rewarding extracurricular experience," the resolution reads.

The stated goal of Schutte and the other five school boards involved is to have resolutions passed in all boards before April 1, which would give the new conference time to properly notify the CIML in time to depart on its own in 2022. Time is also needed to create schedules, hire referees and more administrative details.

When asking if there were any questions or concerns ahead of the motion, school board member Sean Heitmann expressed his support for the resolution.

"My own thought is that this is a good deal for our kids," Heitmann said. "Will help level the playing field a little bit for our kids, maybe give us more opportunities to compete and maybe get more kids interested in competing. I think, Dr. Schutte, you've done a tremendous job of pushing this thing forward with the other districts involved."

Now, the wait is on to see the results of similar discussions at other potential member schools during the rest of the month. But at least on Marshalltown's end of things, a departure from the CIML is one step closer to reality.

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Contact Noah Rohlfing at 641-753-6611 or nrohlfing@timesrepublican.com.