Shelby Eastern Schools board asks for more discussion before discontinuing participation in Shelby County tournaments

The Shelby Eastern Schools board delivered a prepared statement at Wednesday’s monthly meeting concerning the announcement earlier this week that Morristown and Waldron would no longer participate in Shelby County athletic tournaments.

The statement was read by Shelby Eastern Superintendent Dr. Todd Hitchcock.

“The Shelby County Tournament series has been a longstanding tradition for the four county schools in Shelby County. While time honored traditions have value in every community, it is also important to take a look at those and examine those traditions from time to time to insure they are in alignment with the needs and interests of our students.

“The decision to withdraw from the county tournament is something that the four athletic directors in the county have discussed for quite some time. Our athletic directors made a very tough decision. It’s a decision that they believe is in the best interest of student athletes for both the present and in the future. This decision doesn’t take away anything from the past accomplishments of our student athletes.”

The original Victory Bell created for the champion of the Shelby County Girls Basketball Tournament.

The message preceded the Public Comments section of the meeting that brought several people to the podium to express frustration with the lack of transparency that any discussion of ending participation in county tourneys was happening.

The comments were focused on ending the Shelby County basketball tournaments that just celebrated the 100^th anniversary for the boys' tournament and 50^th anniversary for the girls' tournament.

An online petition was created and has more than 800 signatures to continue the basketball tournaments that take place each year in early January.

The athletic directors at Morristown and Waldron stated this week that discussions were ongoing for months between the athletic departments of the four schools about how to move forward.

Read more comments from the athletic directors in the Shelby County Post story at: https://www.giant.fm/shelby-county/news/local-news/morristown-waldron-announce-intent-to-discontinue-competing-in-shelby-county-tournaments/

One idea was keeping the county basketball tournaments but ending the event in all other sports. Neither athletic director, Dan Theobald of Morristown and Tommy Coy of Waldron, believed that was a fair compromise.

Both athletic directors cited a lack of competitive balance in the events, dwindling attendance figures, and apathy from coaches and student-athletes to keep playing as reasons for the decision.

The Shelby Eastern Schools board had no say in the decision. Dr. Hitchcock was aware of the discussions and backed the athletic directors’ decision.

At Wednesday’s meeting, the school board asked both athletic directors to continue working with the athletic departments and administrations at Southwestern and Triton Central in an effort to find a compromise.

There was no direction from the board to only continue participation in basketball county tournaments versus county tournaments in other sports.

The school board expects to discuss the issue again at its July 1 meeting.

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