Board designates Underwood Way day
By Suzanne Werre
Editor
The Underwood School Board is embracing the school’s “Underwood Way” philosophy, officially designating the first Wednesday of every month as Underwood Way Wednesday. Students and staff members have informally adopted the “Underwood Way-nesday,” wearing Underwood Way gear to school that day.
In his request to the board at the Oct. 21 meeting, Elementary Principal Derrick Gross noted that the organizers of the Underwood Way plan to contact the Underwood City Commission to see if the commission would consider doing the same thing.
In unfinished business, the board briefly looked over the current Central McLean sports co-op contract, also looking at some participation numbers. Noting that last year the board had been leaning toward the idea of expanding the co-op to include all sports, Mike Heger, one of Underwood’s representatives on the co-op board, asked his fellow board members to make sure they are informed about the current co-op and the numbers looking forward.
Heger and Supt. Brandt Dick presented an accounting of the past several years enrollment and participation numbers, as well as enrollment numbers from around the region. Underwood currently has the eighth lowest enrollment in the region, with only Elgin-New Leipzig and Max being smaller.
In the past when there were low enrollment/participation numbers, there was typically a class or two coming up within the next two years that could fill the gaps to field teams. That’s not the case now.
