MPCHS athletic banners to be displayed if team qualifies for state

All 20 athletic teams at Mt. Pleasant Community High School will have their achievements recognized by a banner in the gym if they have qualified for state.

The Mt. Pleasant Community School District school board unanimously voted on Monday, Dec. 10, to include athletic teams' achievements on banners if they have a state championship, state runner-up or state qualifier.

'Putting up that banner is going to be that time of celebration,” school board member Martha Wiley said.

The decision was made after cheerleaders and their parents approached the school board in October asking that their state championship and state runners-up banners be displayed.

The cheerleading banners were not displayed because competition cheer is not sanctioned by the Iowa High School Athletic Association or the Iowa Girls Athletic Union, a qualification the board agreed on in January.

Superintendent John Henriksen said that the idea behind recognizing teams who have achieved a state championship, state runner-up or state qualifier was to recognize all students and activities more comprehensively.

There are currently 19 banners hanging in the gym. With the new requirements, the following teams qualify for banners: boys cross-country, football, boys basketball, boys bowling, boys golf, boys soccer, boys track and field, baseball, girls cross-country, volleyball, girls bowling, cheerleading, girls golf, girls track and field, and softball.

In other news, the school board is considering hiring Scot Lamm, the activities director, as the girls track and field coach. The former coach resigned in the spring and the position has been open since. Henriksen said there are no other candidates.

While in the past two activities directors were also head football coaches, the board has since implemented practice that the activities director was not to also be coaching, board member Jennifer Crull said.

'If (Lamm) does take on the responsibility of coaching, there's some questions we need to answer as a board about responsibilities (such as) who is going to be responsible when he's coaching,” Crull said. 'It's nothing about his ability, it's just more concerns on procedures and policies and I want to make sure we have our T's crossed and I's dotted before we move forward.”

Board president Dave McCoid asked Henriksen to develop guidelines to answer Crull's questions for the January board meeting.

The track season begins Feb. 11.

The former girls track and field coach resigned to take a teaching job at another district. At this point, no one else has applied for the coaching position.

The next Mt. Pleasant school board meeting is Monday, Jan. 14, at 6 p.m. in the high school media center.