REPORT, CONTEXT FROM FREEMAN BOARD MEETING
All seven who spoke during the public input portion of the Freeman School Board’s special meeting Wednesday night, April 2 spoke in favor of continuing the sports relationship with Marion, and the school board agreed on two things:
To request a formal proposal from Marion for an expanded co-op, and;
To schedule a public meeting within a week’s time should a proposal be submitted.
Those speaking out at Wednesday’s public meeting were:
- Jeff Wollmann, assistant wrestling coach for the Marion/Freeman Rebels;
- Amber Sayler, head softball coach for the Freeman/Marion/Freeman Academy Phoenix;
- Dustin Tschetter, head football coach for the Freeman/Marion/Freeman Academy Phoenix;
- Mark Bradley, head wrestling coach for the Marion/Freeman Rebels;
- Lance Pankratz, a parent;
- Erin Lachman, a parent;
- Kailey Oleson, a parent.
The April 2 special meeting of the Freeman School Board can be watched here.
Meanwhile, the Parker School Board is scheduled to meet in special session Thursday, April 3 to receive public input on a pending agreement with the Marion School District to establish a new, nine-year, all-sports sports cooperative between the two schools that would begin for most sports in 2025-26 and in football, softball and wrestling in the fall of 2026.
The Marion School Board will also receive public input on the sports partnership at its regularly scheduled meeting April 14.
Official action from both the Marion School Board and the Parker School Board could come as early as the third week of April; in addition to Marion’s regular board meeting on April 17, the Parker board is scheduled to meet in regular session Thursday, April 17.
HOW IT STARTED
All of this is part of a story that has been rapidly developing since it reached the Freeman Public School Board table at last month’s regular meeting held on March 10. At that meeting, board president Emily Andersen told the board that a February meeting of the advisory committee for Freeman/Marion/Freeman Academy Phoenix football and softball — of which she and board vice president Doug McCune are part — revealed that Marion was interested in expanding that cooperative into all sports.
And while the March 10 meeting of the Freeman School Board resulted in unanimous action to continue the conversation with Marion about the expanded partnership — specifically to find out what terms Marion was thinking — the mood at the table reflected a pessimistic outlook, particularly from an outspoken McCune and from board member David Downs, who said he was against bringing other sports into the co-op.
Following the meeting, Marion reached out to Parker to gauge its interest in a long-term, all-sport cooperative — and also informally contacted Canistota — to which Parker responded favorably.
Also following Freeman’s March 10 meeting, Marion’s administration sent a proposal to Freeman administration outlining what an expanded Phoenix cooperative could look like and, according to Andersen, that was distributed to the full board.
It was also shared on social media by one of Freeman Public’s school board members, which Andersen said should not have happened and is a breach in confidentiality.
Brian Brosnahan, superintendent with the Marion School District, shared the proposal with The Courier. It includes the following:
- Wrestling team named changed from Rebels to Phoenix
- Freeman Academy students be invited to participate in all sports
- All football in Freeman
- All wrestling in Freeman
- All track in Freeman
- All golf in Freeman
- All cross-country in Freeman (split practices optional)
- All softball in Marion
- 60% Freeman/40% Marion split in volleyball
- Boys basketball for 2026-27 in Freeman (back to Marion for 2027-28)
- Girls basketball for 2026-27 in Marion (back to Freeman for 2027-28)
- Doubleheaders would be a 2/1 split in favor of Freeman.
- Soccer?
- Financial split 50/50
Andersen said this was never discussed by the Freeman School Board because it was submitted after the March 10 meeting.
And, during the Freeman board’s special meeting held April 2, Andersen said that the district had not received a proposal from Marion, and told the Courier the following morning that the board did not consider what was submitted to Freeman an official proposal because it came from administration and not from the board.
Andersen also told The Courier she questioned why the timelines between the working proposal with Parker and what was shared with Freeman school officials was different; as is currently being considered, the Parker/Marion co-op would begin this coming fall in most sports while the expanded Freeman partnership would not have started until the fall of 2026, according to the document shared by Marion.
HOW IT CONTINUED
One week after the Freeman School Board’s March 10 meeting — after Marion shared the document with Freeman, and after Marion reached out to Canistota and Parker — Marion Superintendent Brian Brosnahan confirmed with The Courier that superintendents and athletic directors from both Marion and Parker were meeting March 19.
He also said that coaches from both districts had been made aware of the developing discussion.
Then, at a special meeting of the Marion School Board on Thursday, March 27, Marion school officials shared a proposal submitted to the Parker School Board outlining a nine-year, all-sports cooperative that would begin in the fall of 2025 for most sports, with football, softball and wrestling added in the fall of 2026. That meeting also included a counterproposal from Parker similar in nature, and support for the new cooperative with the Pheasants from all five Marion board members.
As for Freeman’s special meeting on Wednesday, April 2, it had originally been scheduled exclusively for contract negotiations in executive session, with the additional agenda item — for the “school board (to) hold a discussion about a public meeting regarding the Phoenix Cooperative Agreement” — added late.
Andersen told The Courier the additional item came at the request of one of the Freeman School Board members and was added to the agenda at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 1 — fulfilling the 24-hour notice required by the state’s open meetings law.
APRIL 2 FREEMAN SCHOOL BOARD RESPONSE
After hearing from the seven individuals who spoke in favor of a continued partnership with Marion, school board members discussed the issue among themselves with differing takes on how to move forward.
Board member Cody Spangler said the support at the meeting for expanding the Phoenix co-op was “overwhelming enough for me to move forward (with a broader agreement with Marion).”
“I completely disagree,” said Andersen. “This was a last-minute agenda item and people have not had time to plan. I think there were many people who were not here tonight who, otherwise, in a public meeting in which we were proactively (seeking) their input, would have. I do not think this constitutes an opportunity for public input. I want to hear from more people.”
“I’m going to disagree with you,” responded board member Chris Sayler. “There were seven people who spoke and all were for the co-op. The people who wanted to speak against the co-op, they didn’t show up. Maybe they’re here, but they didn’t speak. So I object to you saying this is not a public meeting. We need to get moving on this.”
Sayler also said the board didn’t do itself any favors at its March 10 meeting with some of the comments that were made.
“The attitude that certain school board members gave was an attitude that we have no intent to go with them, because we’re going to protect certain sports,” he said. “We drop this co-op, we have three sports directly related that will probably not have enough kids. We’re worried about saving basketball.”
Andersen reminded the board that Wednesday’s agenda item was about whether to schedule a public meeting to receive additional feedback.
“What are we having the public discuss if we don’t have a proposal in front of us?” asked McCune. “We did all the work three years ago. We offered a proposal based on participation.”
“We desperately need input,” board member David Downs said. “We got emails from both sides.”
“And they knew the meeting was tonight,” Sayler responded.
“I would like something that’s more formal that gives people more of a runway,” Andersen said. “I don’t want to drag it out. I do, however, want to give due diligence and do not want to be reactive. People’s options are going to change, as they should, based on what (a Marion proposal) looks like.”
Spangler, a self-described “anti-sports guy” who said he’s not going to lose any sleep if the co-op goes away, said Freeman needs to see a formal proposal from Marion before the discussion can continue.
“Would it be fair to try to acquire a formal agreement to have a discussion on instead of just talking about a co-op in thin air?” he asked. “Reach out to Marion, get a proposal and then we have public input on it, at least.”
“That’s what I said last time,” Andersen said. “I am fine reaching out and seeing the feasibility of a formal proposal so we can determine a date for public input meeting.”
