Pattonville Plotting Conference Shuffle

The Pattonville School District may find out this week if it will be leaving the Suburban North Conference and joining the Gateway Athletic Conference (GAC).

The athletic directors of current GAC member schools on Tuesday recommended adding , Winfield and Orchard Farm High Schools to the GAC, said Dave Witter, athletic director at Francis Howell High School.

The athletic directors planned to meet with seven superintendents of GAC schools on Thursday to discuss the recommendation. The superintendents from the St. Charles, Fort Zumwalt, Francis Howell, Troy, Warrenton, Wentzville and Washington School Districts would make the final decision.

The athletic directors started talking about an expanding the 15-member GAC after at the start of the 2012-13 school year.

There’s no “ideal size” for the GAC, said Witter. He said Pattonville, Winfield and Orchard Farm would each evaluated on it’s own merits. A possible third high school for Wentzville School District would be an automatic addition to the GAC, a factor that the superintendents may take into consideration.

Witter said the vast difference in size between the biggest school in the GAC and the smallest school prompted discussion about adding more schools with smaller enrollment.

The GAC is currently divided into two divisions, GAC North, which has smaller schools and GAC South, which has larger schools, but enrollment differs greatly even within the divisions. 

That competitive disadvantage for smaller schools was one reason the 500-student  Duchesne High School decided to leave for the AAA conference, said Dave Thurmer earlier this year.  

The GAC may be reorganized into three divisions, if Orchard Farm and Winfield are added, said St. Charles West athletic director Terry Oetting. Warrenton, St. Charles, St. Charles West, Winfield and Orchard Farm High Schools would comprise the small-school division.

“We’re competing against at least one school that’s almost twice our size,” said Oetting. “Obviously, everyone in the small school division would be under 1,000 students. It would even the playing field.”

Pattonville Athletic Director Bob Hebrank told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch earlier this week, the GAC  would "address the needs of our students with regard to programming and competitiveness," while also taking into account population shifts in the district.

If the move is approved, it was unclear Wednesday when the switch would take effect.