MARION, PARKER CO-OP TALKS; UPDATED

Boards appear to be closing in on 9-year sports agreement as ‘Pheasants’ starting this fall, with football, softball & wrestling beginning in fall of 2026

• Parker School Board to hold special meeting with public input Thursday, April 3 at 6:30 p.m.
• Marion School Board to invite additional public comment at regular meeting April 14 at 6 p.m.
• Official action from both school boards could come third week of April
• Freeman Public board to discuss co-op in special session Wednesday, Aug 2

A possible nine-year sports agreement between Marion and Parker is on the table, and by all accounts, both school districts are on board.

That’s the biggest takeaway from a special meeting of the Marion School Board held inside the high school gym Thursday night, March 27. The meeting featured a review of a possible sports agreement recently drafted by Marion and shared with Parker, and a counter-proposal Parker shared with Marion last Thursday afternoon, suggesting the discussion is moving quickly.

And both districts have follow-up meetings planned.

The Parker School Board will hold a special meeting Thursday, April 3 starting at 6:30 p.m. The meeting will be held inside the school’s main gymnasium to allow for public input.

The Marion School Board, meanwhile, will invite further discussion from the public when it meets again in regular session April 14 at 6 p.m. inside the school’s main gymnasium.

Marion and Parker are both proposing similar splits in practices and games, with the proposed new cooperative in cross-country, boys and girls basketball, track and field and volleyball beginning this coming fall. For that to happen, a proposal would have to be submitted to the South Dakota High School Activities Association by the end of the month for consideration.

Football, softball and wrestling would first enter into the new agreement in the fall of 2026.

Scott Tieszen, chair of the Marion School Board, said at the March 27 meeting that Parker’s willingness to work toward a long-term, all-sports agreement is something the Marion district has wanted for a long time “so we are known as one team,” he said.

“We have some good sports co-ops with Freeman; we have a long-term sports co-op with Freeman Academy, but as some of you have noticed, the numbers aren’t consistent,” he said. “There are some sports where there is good participation (from Freeman Academy) and some sports where there is not. What we need is partnership where we can be more sustainable in the long-term, and the Academy is not fulfilling that requirement.”

Tieszen noted that Marion officials reached out to Freeman Public — with which it has a partnership in wrestling (Rebels) and football and softball (Phoenix) — inquiring about expanding the partnership into all sports, and that the response was “not so enthusiastic.”

“You can all go onto Freeman’s website and watch that meeting in its entirety,” he noted, “and you will find the majority of the response was not necessarily in favor of an all-sports co-op with us.”

Still, Freeman Public late Tuesday night, Aug. 1 updated its agenda for a special meeting Wednesday, April 2 originally called solely for teacher negotiations. The new agenda shows a discussion about Marion’s request for an expanded co-op following the executive session for the negotiations.

The meeting starts at 7 p.m., with the second agenda item — the discussion on the co-op — live-streamed. Click here for the link.

Marion also reached out to Canistota and Parker, Tieszen said, and was met with a favorable response from Parker, a community eight miles to the south/southeast and Marion’s closest neighbor.

And on Wednesday, March 19, superintendents and athletic directors from Marion and Parker got together to discuss what a partnership could look like. Additional details were shared at last week’s special meeting of the Marion School Board, and while no official action has been taken, Tieszen noted that the Parker School Board appeared to be in favor of moving forward 4-1.

Details on the table

Based on that information, the mascot of a new cooperative between Marion and Parker would remain Pheasants, with Marion’s proposal suggesting the full name be Marion/Parker Pheasants, while Parker countered with a full team name of ParMar Pheasants.

“One thing Parker has made perfectly clear is a mascot change is off the table,” said Tieszen. “They will not even talk to you if you’re not willing to be a Pheasant.”

That did not appear to be a sticking point at Thursday’s special meeting in Marion, and other details shared suggest both school boards favor an agreement that is close to an even split.

Both proposals support 100% varsity/junior varsity football at Parker and a 50/50 junior high football split, as well as all track and field at Parker and a 90/10 split in wrestling.

Marion asked for a 50/50 split in boys and girls basketball and volleyball while Parker countered with 60% Parker and 40% Marion.

Marion’s proposal also included a 50/50 split in softball, to which Parker countered with 60% Marion and 40% Parker

“They like our facilities better than theirs,” said Tieszen. “Not too often do we get to say that in this town. We should be very proud of that.”

Both districts have also agreed to a nine-year cooperative with two year’s notice required — in writing — should one school want to break that contract. If proper notification of termination is not given, Marion school officials explained, the school abounding the partnership would be penalized 50% of one year’s worth of expenses.

All Marion School Board members spoke in favor of a long-term, all-sports co-op with Parker at last week’s meeting.

“This seems to be the fairest agreement we have received from any of these other towns, aside from Freeman Academy,” said Jaren Schmidt. “It’s kind of a tough one to swallow in terms of mascots, but right now we’re four different ones (Rebels in wrestling, Bobcats in soccer, Phoenix and football and softball and Bearcats in everything else), so is that really going to matter? To me it doesn’t. I’m looking forward to the future and moving forward with one co-op with one name.”

Donlan agreed.

“I’ve been working at this for six years and I know there are other people sitting in here who have been working at it a lot longer,” said Matt Donlan. “I get it if you’re frustrated with the Pheasant thing, but this is the most a school has come for Marion — ever.”

“I like it; I think it has a fair balance to it,” said Amalia Zick. “I appreciate the give and take and that’s what this is. Let them enjoy the sports, let them get to play, let them get that camaraderie going.”

“It’s time to figure out something we can be for many years,” said Jen McConniel, noting that Marion has played under various team names over the years, including multiple team names in various partnerships in football: Seahawks when they were attached to Bridgewater-Emery in 2021, Razorbacks during a partnership with Menno from 2013 to 2020, and Cobras during a short stint with Hurley — a team that won a Class 9AA title in 2008.

“We need to look at the longevity of things, and if we have to be the Pheasants, we have to be the Pheasants,” McConniel continued. “It is, after all, the state bird.”

Soccer, FA in the balance

The biggest difference in the two proposals shared last week was that Parker would like to keep the soccer partnership intact with Freeman Academy — something Marion board members questioned. But feedback from the public during the open forum included multiple comments in favor of maintaining that relationship with Freeman Academy’s soccer program, which in addition to Marion and Parker includes a connection with Freeman Public.

Marion school officials also said that they have not talked with Parker about bringing Freeman Academy along in other sports; Marion and Freeman Academy have enjoyed a largely healthy Bearcats sports cooperative since 2016.

Brian Paff, board chair at Freeman Academy, attended Thursday’s meeting in Marion and said that Freeman Academy “would like to be part of the conversation.”

No official action has been taken by any school board involved, although that could come the third week of the month when Marion has its regular meeting (with additional public input) on April 14.

Parker is scheduled to meet in regular sessino Thursday, April 17.

Impact, history

In addition to Freeman Academy, the latest developments with Marion and Parker could have a major impact on the “Phoenix” brand implemented in 2022, when Freeman Public, Marion and Freeman Academy agreed on a new football cooperative, with Phoenix softball beginning the following year.

It would also bring an end to the longest-standing wrestling cooperative in South Dakota — the Marion/Freeman Rebels established in 1991.

While the Freeman School Board took up the issue of the expanded co-op at its regular meeting on March 11, going so far as voting to “continue the discussion,” there appeared to be little support for the move.

And it’s not the first time that Marion and Freeman Public have failed to get a deal done. In fact, a five-sport, three-school cooperative was on the table in the spring of 2021 between Freeman Public, Marion and Freeman Academy prior to the establishment of the Phoenix football partnership.

At the conclusion of that discussion, at a special board meeting of all three school boards, Marion and Freeman Academy board members unanimously agreed to the partnership beginning the fall of 2021, while it failed on a 2-3 vote from Freeman Public despite the majority of public input favoring the three-school co-op.