DECORAH, Iowa (KCRG) – The Iowa Department of Education has rejected a call by Decorah Schools to change conference athletics next school year to avoid having its students travel up to 290 miles round trip for high school games.

Right now, Decorah is part of the Northeast Iowa Conference, which will disband at the end of this school year. Each school in Iowa is eligible to participate in an athletic conference, designed to match schools of the same size and area.

Decorah applied to join the Upper Iowa Conference but was denied because of its high school enrollment of 435, more than double the conference’s average enrollment. The next closest Upper Iowa Conference school in enrollment is North Fayette Valley at 243.

Based on size, Decorah would most likely join the WaMaC conference. But Decorah says that will create travel issues for student athletes. The average distance between Decorah and WaMaC schools is 112 miles one way. Independence is the closest school at 68 miles, while Grinnell would be the farthest at 145 miles, meaning students would travel 290 miles round trip for a competition.

After mediation failed to reach an agreement, the Iowa Department of Education accepted the mediators’ recommendation to deny Decorah’s appeal to join the Upper Iowa Conference.

“However, a choice must be made between travel time and school size,” the Iowa Department of Education’s ruling states. “In its decision, the mediation team gave more weight to the latter, taking both factors into account.”

Decorah’s school board is set to discuss next steps at its Nov. 11 meeting.

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