Let’s Talk Newton- Newton School District Athletics and Activities Director Ryan Rump

Welcome to today's Let's Talk, given the power by the Knoxville Raceway.

Every event today we're talking to new high school athletic activities director Ryan

Robb.

Got some public meetings coming up concerning the status of the Little Hawkeye Conference

where new school district puts into that in the future possibly with some changes coming

up Ryan in the conference.

Just kind of let people before we mention that the public hearing is in a survey where

we stand conference wise.

We got some schools coming in and there's one school coming out.

Sure.

So starting in 26, 27, so next school year we'll have aims and Des Moines Christian coming

into the league.

They will be new members and that'll give us nine.

So we'll have nine members of the Little Hawkeye Conference starting next school year.

And then two years from now, Paula will be leaving the conference who go to the Raccoon

River Conference.

That will leave us with eight.

So that's kind of our current state of the Little Hawkeye Conference as it sits right

now.

Now, for those unaware, the addition of the two new schools, Paula's waiting two years

to leave.

Was that a decision that was made a couple of years ago, the aims and Des Moines Christian

coming on?

Yes, you know, there was a lot of conversation as there always seems to be about trying

to stabilize, you know, our current situation with the Little Hawkeye Conference and there

are several meetings that were had with other schools within a reasonable proximity that

we all thought might be good fits for the Little Hawkeye Conference.

And the result of those meetings were aims and Des Moines Christian were two good fits

and they were invited and accepted.

And the plan was that they were to join and 26, 27 to make nine and then between that

time and today, Paula, accepted an invitation to the Raccoon River Conference.

That's kind of how and why we've gotten to where we're at.

And we got to some public meetings, you guys kind of evaluating the situation for the

Little Hawkeye Conference and where Newton fits in that and a couple of public meetings

coming up to share a lot of information.

Both will be 530 at the auditorium there at the high school, one on the 15th and one

on the 21st and just kind of why is it so important to, you know, hear from the public

about this?

Pagan Rainy, but we're just trying to provide some transparency for our stakeholders and

for our community.

And as you would expect, anytime there's a topic like this, there's a lot of there's

a lot of opinions and there's a lot of maybe misinformation that goes around.

So we just want to get information out the people that are interested, but just want

to get them the facts, I guess, the most accurate information as we have it right now.

There's some things that we know that we can tell people there's a lot of unknowns

still and this is a never changing landscape, you know, if you look at this conference,

conference movement all the way, you know, from the college level on down, it just seems

like it's a constant shift and, you know, it's no different here.

So, you know, things are constantly changing and moving and Newton, as a lot of schools

I think are right now, we're just kind of examining, you know, where we're at and, you

know, how we fit and if we fit the current and future landscape of what our league might

look like and I guess we're just kind of in an evaluation process right now, I guess

it's the best way to describe it, but we're trying to try to be as transparent as we can

with our stakeholders about that process and we've sent a survey out for the community

and our stakeholders to complete if they want.

None of this, of course, is mandatory, but, you know, we're just providing an opportunity

for input, I guess, for our community and for our stakeholders.

And each conference is a little difference once you get outside of athletics for the,

like the performing arts side of things, somehow, you know, conference affiliations for events,

for performing arts as students and some don't.

So it's kind of...

Right.

Right.

As you mentioned, there are a lot of tentacles and a lot of different aspects when it comes

to conference affiliation and partnership and those are things that we as school officials

and administrators, you know, we have to look at that big picture and try to satisfy, you

know, our entire district and not just a small percentage, I guess.

So there's a lot of things to look at and a lot of things to consider.

And, you know, no decisions are going to be made as part of these meetings.

And in fact, you know, there's probably no decisions that are going to be made, you

know, when it comes to our conference affiliation, there's no immediate or short-term decisions

that are going to be made.

These are kind of...

These are long-term decisions and things that we're thinking that we're putting a lot

of thought and time in due so that we can ultimately come up with the best fit and the best

solution for the new school district.

You just want to get out the accurate information so everybody knows what's going on.

And yeah, like you said, it's going to be a long-evaluation process to sign.

There's only no immediate hurry, as you mentioned.

Right.

You know, depending on what you do or what you do or where you're at, two years can

be a long time, but it also can move.

But it can move pretty quickly, too.

We know that.

And it's a never-changing landscape.

So we just want to make sure we're at the forefront of that landscape and, you know,

that we're ahead of any movement or anything that we need to be ahead of that we're ready

for that.

And, you know, it's hard to say where Newton will be in, you know, three years, five years,

ten years.

It's hard to say nobody knows that.

More than likely, every school in our conference right now with some of the movement that's

going on is probably going through somewhat of the same evaluation process that we're going

through.

Yeah, definitely.

So the public meetings again for the community, April 15th and the 21st, high school auditorium,

five, thirty, both those nights, and check out the Facebook page for Newton athletics

and, I believe, on the website, too, they have that survey link available for that.

Yeah, and we do, you know, we encourage anybody and everybody that's interested in providing

input.

Please fill out that survey and, you know, if you want to provide us some input, we'd

love to have it and get that survey filled out in ten to us and we're happy to get as

much input as we possibly can.

All right.

Well, hey, thanks for your comments, Ryan.

We appreciate it today.

Yeah.

You bet.

Thanks, Randy.

Appreciate you asking.

I appreciate the time.

We've been talking to Newton athletics and activities director Ryan Rump on today's

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