Lapeer Community Schools is pleased to announce the acceptance of Lapeer High School to the Saginaw Valley Conference for athletic competition beginning in the fall of 2014.

“We’re excited to have found a home for Lapeer High School athletics,” said LCS Superintendent Matt Wandrie. “This new opportunity allows us to maintain classic rivalries with neighboring schools while establishing new ones. We look forward to being a part of a proud conference with a tradition of excellence.”

With the announcement of the planned consolidation of Lapeer East and West High Schools, and subsequent denial of membership to the Flint Metro League, district officials began a thorough process to determine new league affiliation. This process included soliciting input from parents, coaches, athletic administration, and community members via a number of task force groups and the Athletic Review Committee. Through these conversations, the following items were identified as primary considerations in seeking new league affiliation:

• Drive time to member school districts
• Competitiveness
• Natural rivalries
• Facilities
• Depth of programs offered for athletics and non-athletics

When considering the factors listed above, viable options had to be determined. Those options included the following:

• Consider application to existing neighboring leagues, i.e. the Oakland Activities Association, Saginaw Valley, Macomb Area Conference, etc.
• Develop a new league with neighboring districts
• Compete as an independent district without any league affiliation

District officials thoroughly vetted these options and, as a result of this work, determined that applying to the Saginaw Valley Conference was the best option available for Lapeer Community Schools. Certain leagues were not accepting new member applications; others, based on the considerations listed above, were not legitimate options; further, the idea of forming a new league failed to achieve widespread support from enough districts to make it a viable option. After careful consideration, it was determined that the idea of competing as an independent was not in the best interest of our student athletes. In addition to a lack of recognition opportunities, travel times could be significant. Independent schools must often travel long distances to fill open competition dates regardless of geographic location.

The Saginaw Valley consists of 14 schools divided into geographical divisions. The Southern Division includes Davison, Carman-Ainsworth, Powers Catholic, Flint Northwestern, Flint Southwestern and Lapeer. The Northern Division includes Bay City Western, Bay City Central, Midland, Midland Dow, Saginaw, Saginaw Heritage, Saginaw Arthur Hill and Mt. Pleasant.

Like the Flint Metro League, special consideration is given to schools separated by significant distance when scheduling weekday contests. For example, a hockey game scheduled for a Wednesday might be moved to a Friday evening if we were playing a longer-distance crossover game such as Midland Dow.