EMERSON—The Emerson Public School District is charging toward the 2023–2024 football season in need of a new cooperative sports program. With only 10 Cavaliers confirmed for next season, Emerson finds it can’t field a team at any level.
That’s according to Superintendent of Schools Brian P. Gatens, writing the community on Nov. 14.
Gatens said athletic director Gus Paleoudis has reached out to North Jersey Interscholastic Conference member districts “to see who may be interested in working with Emerson for football, marching band, and cheerleading. We will continue to update the school community along the way.”
Gatens said, “For the past several years, Emerson has struggled with declining football participation numbers and last school year explored the possibility of expanding our cooperative sports agreement with Park Ridge to include football, marching band, and cheerleading. When the proposal was presented to the member districts of the NJIC, it did not receive the necessary endorsement and was defeated by a vote of 19 to 13 with one abstention.”
The NJIC said Park Ridge has been one of the top teams in the NJIC over the past four years, “including four divisional titles, two sectional titles and one regional championship, and had no need to enter a cooperative venture.”
It said “The NJIC would be better served if Emerson sought a cooperative program with another school in the conference that may be struggling, and suggested Weehawken High School, which also participates in the Union Division and has been struggling with football participation numbers. “However, the travel time between Emerson and Weehawken may be an impediment.”
It said “New Milford High School, which is geographically close to Emerson, has struggled with football participation in recent years. However, New Milford, which formerly played in the non-competitive Union Division, is no longer in that division.”
Gatens said, “As a next step, Emerson and Park Ridge appealed to the New Jersey State Interscholastic Association (NJSIAA) Appeals Committee, which then refused to overturn the NJIC. For the 2022–2023 school year, Emerson and Park Ridge continued to have separate programs.”
(If the Park Ridge/Emerson football co-op were permitted, the team expected it would rise “probably not only one, but probably two divisions in terms of size” in the NJIC.)
According to Gatens, “The circumstances that led the NJIC and then the NJSIAA to refuse to endorse the expansion of our longtime cooperative relationship with Park Ridge to include football, marching band, and cheerleading remain in place. Simply put, both programs need to show a need to stay viable, and barring that, an agreement would not be approved.”
As a result, he said, “Park Ridge cannot be considered for a cooperative football, cheerleading, or marching band relationship.”
Gatens emphasized that the decline in participation “only applies to the football team. Cheerleading and marching band are fine when it comes to participation numbers, but as with Park Ridge, all three programs would be considered when discussing a possible cooperative agreement.”
He said, “We recognize that a school’s football program, as well as cheerleading and marching band, holds a special place in the life of a school and community. As a result, receiving feedback from community members would also be beneficial. Those interested in learning more and/or those with questions and thoughts are encouraged to reach out directly to Emerson athletic director Gus Paleoudis.”
Gatens said, “The district looks forward to your questions and input and, as always, please reach out as needed. Go Cavos!”
He told Pascack Press on Nov. 15, “Regarding where Emerson would or would not play next year depends upon what school district we would eventually form a cooperative partnership with.”
And he said of next steps, “I expect there to be some movement on that topic over the next several weeks.”
Park Ridge and Emerson are members of the North Jersey Interscholastic Conference, Group 1. Emerson competes in the NJIC Union Division. Park Ridge competes in the NJIC Patriot Division
The NJIC is a 37-member conference of Group I and Group II schools in Bergen and Passaic counties. Twenty-seven of the conference’s schools have football programs. Those schools are divided into five divisions based on enrollment. The composition of four of the divisions is based on enrollment.
The fifth division, the Union Division, is for schools with lower participation numbers “that are not interested in qualifying for or competing in the state tournament.”
In their bid for a cooperative program for football, Emerson and Park Ridge noted Emerson’s participation numbers are declining and it believes it will be unable to field a football team next year.
The appeal was heard March 10, over three hours, and shot down, 6-0, after what NJSIAA says was an hour of deliberation. The decision was released March 22.
‘The trend is not going in a great direction for football…’
In his support of the partnership, Park Ridge superintendent Robert Gamper testified to NJSIAA’s appeals committee, “The Park Ridge numbers for the next couple of years are good, but this is going to be us. Emerson’s situation is going to be us three or four years from now.”
In recent years, Emerson has not fielded a junior varsity football team. Park Ridge does not have a “pure JV” program but rather plays approximately five junior varsity games per season.
According to the appeals committee’s report on the hearing and conclusions, the schools attribute declining football participation numbers to, “among other things, the injuries that occur in football and the migration of athletes to other sports, such as soccer.”
Park Ridge’s athletic director testified “Anybody who’s involved in athletics, you know the trend is not going in a great direction for football. The numbers are declining. The injury status, the concussions, all of that stuff certainly is not helping our cause.”
Gatens told the appeals committee, “The soccer program is very popular and as a result many players who traditionally would have played football have migrated over to the soccer program.”
The committee also said iti considered the recent on-field success for both schools in determining their relative need to enter a cooperative sports program.
“Over the past four years, Park Ridge is 36-6, with four divisional championships, two sectional titles, and one regional championship. And, while Emerson struggled in the 2021-2022 season, amassing a record of 2-5, over the past four years Emerson is 18-15,” the committee said.
It added, “Considering that neither school currently has a need to enter a co-op program based on participation numbers, the appeals committee was wary that permitting this co-op program would create a ‘stronger or more competitive team,’ contrary to the bylaws.”
Park Ridge was willing
In December 2021 the Park Ridge Board of Education called a special meeting to discuss the request from Emerson to include football in the district’s co-op athletic agreement. The decision was time-sensitive and the public was invited to weigh in.
According to Park Ridge district superintendent Robert M. Gamper, both districts agreed to wait until the end of the season to discuss this matter “so as not to create a distraction for players and coaches.”
Gamper told the Owls community in a letter Dec. 3, 2021 that a merger in football would be similar to the programs Park Ridge already shared with Emerson in golf, cross-country, bowling, wrestling and lacrosse.
Of Emerson’s ask, he said, “Most of you will remember that we last entertained this idea in 2014. At that time, both schools were able to field a competitive team and the discussion was more for exploration purposes.
However, the request from Emerson this year coincides with low football program enrollment, which will make it difficult for them to safely compete at the varsity level in the fall.”
Gamper said at the time, “Technically, Emerson can field a team, but the experience would be challenging at best and unsafe at worst.”
He said he understands that “this request might not be a surprise to our younger football families, since Park Ridge and Emerson have been playing together on the Junior Level (grades 1–8) for the past several seasons.”
The Park Ridge BOE Education Committee met with stakeholders from Owls football, cheerleading and marching band programs, and an invitation to attend the meeting was sent to PRHS coaches/directors, PRHS booster association representatives and PRAA junior commissioners.