With talk of one school considering an exit from Mississippi Valley Conference athletics, the topic of making a commitment to the MVC came before the Waterloo School Board last week.

The current members of the MVC are Waterloo, Triad, Highland, Mascoutah, Civic Memorial and Jerseyville. 

To be recognized as an IHSA conference in the sport of football, the conferences need at least six participating schools. 

Waterloo Superintendent Brian Charron and Waterloo Athletic Director Brian Unger have recently attended meetings with other district administrators within the MVC after one school expressed concerns that schools like Mascoutah and Triad are growing to the extent that they are unable to compete in some sports.

“Our opinion is this is the conference that we belong in,” Charron told school board members. “One of the other schools wanted to join a smaller conference to boost the number of wins they’re getting. My personal opinion is that’s not what our kids would need. I don’t see a point in us playing a lot of schools that are smaller than us just to have more wins and feel better about ourselves if in the postseason we’re going to go up against schools that are our size or bigger.”

Triad came up with the idea of seeking a four-year commitment amongst the current MVC schools as a show of solidarity and to establish consistency within the conference.

“At the next board meeting, I anticipate having something for you,” Charron told the board. “We’re going to ask that you approve a four-year commitment to the Mississippi Valley Conference.”

Once this commitment is signed, a school would have to give a one-year  notice in advance to exiting the conference.

“We have no desire to leave the MVC,” Unger told the Republic-Times this week. “We’re basically an innocent bystander in this situation.”

Waterloo has the third lowest enrollment of the MVC schools with 827, which is ahead of Jerseyville (825) and Civic Memorial (753.5) but below that of Highland (886),  Mascoutah (1,100.5) and Triad (1,157.5).