Friday’s girl’s basketball game drew a great crowd from homes along the path around the Falls. It came on the night before Valentine’s Day, but wearing deep red was not the order of the day. Instead, the not-quite red color of pink was the uniform of the night for many of the fans in the stands and the students performing on the floor who were not in official Panther athletic uniforms.
Even the WOCO radio color commentators Todd Peterson and Brett Crandall, who were moonlighting from their elementary teaching jobs, were decked out in pink. There were a number of special aspects of that night’s contest that added to the evening. A contingent of elementary girls basketball players dressed in pink ran with the varsity players circling the playing court as the team came out of the locker room.
It was parents night for the team, and a number of the parents got into the wearing pink act. A number of the guys who didn’t must have felt bad and would have worn their finest pink if they had gotten the word. The Panther pep band did its thing at full volume, confirming that pink power can be loud.
This was teddy bear toss night, but no teddy bears were to be tossed until after the annual halftime dance team rendition that featured male dance partners who were showing their stuff. The post-game activities included the Winter Carnival Dance sponsored by the student council.
Many of the special events were to benefit St. Baldrick’s and the Boys and Girls Club.
This was a great kickoff to the Valentine’s Day weekend and an event that brought many community members together. Schools, especially in more rural parts of Wisconsin, can be the center of the community. They bring community members into the school as a social gathering place.
It would be fair to say that at least half of the people in attendance that night did not have children or grandchildren in school. They were just there to show community support.
One of the informal coalitions in which this observer is involved is the Wisconsin Public Education Network, a group that has brought people from many walks of life together in support of Wisconsin public schools. Over the last few years the group has focused on a number of priorities, one of which is messaging.
In this fast-paced world of short attention spans and sound bite communication, the group came up with a nice phrase, “Public schools, the heart of the community.”
Much of this came together on Friday night. Many community members were at the event, even though they had no children in school. Hearts were part of the atmosphere, with the pink and the fact that the next day was Valentine’s Day.
It was a contest between two high school girls basketball teams from a couple of similar school districts, Oconto Falls and Denmark. Both districts had seen some financial challenges over the years. Like many other districts in Wisconsin, each had previously presented referendums to exceed the revenue limits in recent years and had those proposals rejected by the voters.
Going to the voters has been more common in recent years as state support for public schools has not kept pace with the cost of doing business. As the general public has become more aware of shortfalls in state support, within the past year voters in both districts approved referendums to exceed the revenue limits in order to maintain operations in their districts.
After years of sending messages about a need to upgrade athletic facilities, in the last six moths, citizens in both districts also approved referendums to provide those facility upgrades.
Another commonality between the two districts is that they have been bounced around by the WIAA between athletic conferences. They both will leave the Bay Conference and join another newly formed athletic conference next fall. Teams from the two schools will continue to meet each other on the playing courts and athletic fields during the next few years. In some cases those contests will take place at much improved athletic facilities.
Community members will continue to flock to the events because the schools truly are the heart of their communities. That message will continue to be sent as our legislators work through the budget process in the hope that our elected officials will understand this anatomy lesson.
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