The Marshall Owls may have found a new conference home, pitting them against Dragons and Spoofhounds.
According to an item on their Tuesday, Mar. 10 agenda, the Marshall Public Schools Board of Education will consider a proposal to join the Midland Empire Conference. Board members in Moberly will also consider the proposal at their monthly meeting Tuesday evening, while the school board in Kirksville did so at their meeting last Thursday. A letter posted with Moberly’s agenda from current MEC chairman and Maryville R-II Supt. Philip Pohren said that the conference’s member schools expressed strong support for Marshall and three other North Central Missouri Conference schools (Kirksville, Mexico, and Moberly) to join. The proposal comes as the NCMC is three months away from dissolving, with Fulton set to join the Tri-County Conference while Hannibal is poised to go independent.
The Midland Empire is also in the midst of membership flux, as Kansas City’s St Pius X will leave after this spring to become an independent in all sports, while a restructuring plan passed last fall by the St Joseph School District will turn Lafayette into a middle school. With Lafayette’s students moving into the district’s remaining two high schools, Benton is set to become the most populous school in the MEC. Last year, Excelsior Springs accepted an invitation to join the MEC effective this fall, ending their second stint in the Greater Kansas City Suburban Association. For Marshall and the other NCMC schools to receive formal admission, the MEC’s Board of Controls will need to approve the proposal at their next scheduled meeting April 9.
The proposal is among the items on Tuesday evening’s agenda when the Marshall board meets beginning at 6 p.m. at the Tom Butterfield Early Childhood Center. The board will also consider the school calendar for the next year, as well as a resolution to sell the current bus barn and two lots along South Odell acquired in exchange for the Marshall Saline Development Corporation acquiring the Northwest School building.