Times Observer photo by Josh Cotton Warren Girls Basketball Coach Lisa LaVan addressed the school board Monday night as discussions continue about whether to bring back to the Sheffield girls basketball program, ending a co-op with Warren.

The Warren County School Board will be holding a vote at the April meeting on whether or not to bring back the Sheffield girls basketball program.

The debate on whether to reinstate the program – and discontinue a co-op with Warren – continued at committee meetings on Monday night.

The board heard arguments on both sides of the issue and grappled with the possibility of setting a precedent for other communities that have lost sports programs.

First to address the board was WAHS girls coach Lisa LaVan.

She told the board that the co-op was initially dropped on the program three days before the start of the season.

“I wasn’t excited at first,” she said. But, long story short, it worked. “They bring smiles to our faces.”

She outlined how the co-op has impacted the Lady Dragon program.

“Right, wrong or indifferent, winning builds confidence,” she said. “We win because we work hard, not because we have the best talent. We’re a family and we work together towards a common goal. Culture matters. We hope to prepare these girls for life. We truly live that.”

LaVan told the board that the majority of the Sheffield students in her program want the co-op to continue and “made it clear they don’t plan to leave us. Ending this co-op is going to split apart a family.”

Sheffield AD Corey Copley acknowledged that Sheffield is “probably as well-versed in co-ops as anybody” and can “certainly understand the value of op-ops.”

“For the same reasons that Lisa has expressed,” he added, “we would like to provide to our kids at Sheffield, giving them experiences and opportunities.”

He said eight Division 9 schools indicated that they would agree to play a reborn Sheffield team if they had room on schedules.

“I can also say, all co-ops with Warren,” he continued, “I don’t think our people have been mistreated in any way.”

Copley stressed he was “confident” more could come out if the program was offered at Sheffield.

Discussion then shifted to the school board.

Mary Passinger said that “both sides have valid points” and that she’s “not sure how we’re going to go ahead and deal with this.”

She said that prior district sentiment was that if a program was forced to shutter, it would not come back.

Paul Mangione suggested that numbers at Sheffield now are a “little bit higher than they have been” and asked “how sustainable” bringing the program back might be.

“If we’re just doing this for a couple years when the numbers are high,” he said, and faces “another forced co-op in three years, that’s not solving anything.”

Tammi Holden said that the junior high numbers are good while Stephanie Snell pointed out that extends down to the elementary level.

“Those kids see that program that want to actually come out for it and want to try to build it back up,” Snell said.

Savanna Cochran, who coaches volleyball at Sheffield, said she’s going to have to take her feelings as a coach out of it.

“But I respect your decisions,” she said. “It breaks my heart. If we’re going to give an opportunity to 16 other kids, I’m going to have to have a broken heart.”

Passinger then raised the issue of precedent.

“Are we going to be opening a can of worms here where we let them come back,” she said, and other programs – specifically identifying football in Youngsville – approach the board “if they want a chance to try it again.”

“It’s a very emotional thing,” Mangione acknowledged. “Obviously we’re still sitting here trying to figure that out.”

He reiterated that the district’s intention was to consider a lost program permanently gone.

“Right, wrong or indifferent,” he said, “that’s what the policy (and) procedure has been.”

Snell said that the reconfiguration debate last school year was a “reality check” for Sheffield and Youngsville.

“It shows the community and the desire to participate and make the community proud,” she said.

She added that it should be “up to a 17-year-old to ask for the program” back.

“Some adult somewhere failed these kids on that.”

The idea of an intramural program was proposed but quickly shot down by district staff.

Holden asked why there wasn’t a Warren game held in Sheffield this year and LaVan cited scheduling reasons.

“The community aspect of it does take a toll,” Holden said. “The community matters.”

If the co-op remains, LaVan said that would be something they would look at next and she also raised the idea of holding practice in Sheffield once a week.

“I never felt like this is something our kids should have to carry,” LaVan added.

Perhaps the most persuasive comments came from one of the two Sheffield students who finished the season with the Lady Dragons, Emma Roell.

“They are all like my sisters,” she said of the Warren program. “I could not imagine playing for Sheffield again.

“I want to go places in basketball,” Roell added. “Sheffield is not a competitive school.”

She said a Sheffield program would be full of students who are playing for fun.

“I will not go to Sheffield again,” she stressed. “If I have to transfer and not play for playoffs, I’ll do that.”