Board pumps brakes on hockey co-op expansion

By Jack Waters
The Lancaster School Board met on Tuesday, July 14 with agenda items intended to include a dissolution and re-formation of the hockey co-op expansion to accommodate additional players from Stephen-Argyle Central. But a debate left parts of the plan unsettled, with a future special meeting to address the concerns.
Board member Lacey Lupien voiced concerns she had over the disparities in the policies of eligibility and penalty differences among schools within the co-op expansion. “I have one question around the co-op conversation. Do we all follow the same eligibility rules? That’s something we have to look at before approval. Like our kids at Lancaster will get four-week penalties, but theirs will only get two, even though they are on the same team?” Lupien said. “It really makes us look like we’re not on the same page. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I think they all should be four, but I can’t change their minds over there. I feel like it should all be four.”
Superintendent Nicole Thompson and the board acknowledged that while the issue had been briefly noted in past discussions, it would require a special meeting to address and perhaps make the penalties uniform.

To read the whole story, see the July 22, 2026, edition of the Kittson County Enterprise