Missota could gain members

The District 112 school board approved a letter be sent to Chris Richardson, superintendent of Northfield Public Schools, that requests Chanhassen and Chaska high schools be admitted into the Missota Conference beginning in the fall of 2010.

Chaska High School was a member of the Missota Conference before it moved to the Lake Conference. Chanhassen High School is scheduled to open this fall to accommodate the district's growing enrollment. Both schools will compete in the Lake Conference this fall.

The request is driven by enrollment. Both high schools are expected to have approximately 1,300 students in the fall of 2010.

Red Wing is the smallest public school slated to be a member of the conference in the fall of 2010: It had 869 students during the 2008-09 academic year.

Prior Lake (1,884 students), Farmington (1,436), Shakopee (1,435), Northfield (1,223), New Prague (1,053) and Holy Angels (862) also are scheduled to be part of the league for the 2010-11 school year.

The letter was approved at Thursday's school board meeting. In the letter, District 112 Superintendent David Jennings acknowledged that the deadline to seek admission had passed, but he asked for an exception.

If the two schools are accepted, it would be the second major membership change the conference will experience in the fall of 2010. Hutchinson will move from the Missota to the Wright County Conference at that time.

Tags: red wing, missota conference, sports