To The Editor:

The recent decision, by VVS, to leave the Tri-Valley League raises many questions that need to be answered.

As one of the original founders of the TVL, it seems to be a drastic move to leave the league without a test trial of it first. Here is what the citizens and voters of the Vernon-Verona-Sherrill district need to know:

1) Who made the decision to leave? Interestingly no administrator was available to answer the Oneida Dispatch's calls to the athletic director, the superintendent, or the interim superintendent. Was it a group decision? Were all coaches asked their input? Was the community given the opportunity to answer questions about our withdrawal from the TVL.

2) Why was the decision made? Are we leaving because we are afraid to play bigger schools? Football, baseball and basketball are out so who are we protecting?

3) Who will take us now? Since Clinton, a smaller school than VVS, was accepted into the Center State Conference, does that mean they will take us? Do we want to join them so we can guarantee wins? That is unfair to them and to our student-athletes.

4) What will be the economic impact on VVS for its departure? The taxpayers of VVS just defeated a school budget by close to 400 votes. Is the board and the administration now telling us we are going to save money by traveling further away to Cooperstown, Sherburne-Earlville, Sauquoit, Ilion, Little Falls, Herkimer, Richfield Springs, etc? I think not.

5) What is our objective in this move? Are we doing this because we want to prove a point to Section III or the State? Are we taking our ball and going home because we could not get our way?

6) Is this about winning? Are we saying to our kids that winning is the most important goal of participation in athletics? I, and others I have talked to, believe the decision to leave was made by the administration.

Apparently a gross miscalculation was made, when the school decided to leave the TVL, anticipating that Oneida, Holland Patent, and Camden would leave, too. This should not surprise many, since the district also made a miscalculation when they thought they could present voters in May, a budget with a 6 percent increase and we would buy it.

There is, and has been for many years, an attitude at VVS that they can not be questioned.

We need answers to these questions.

This move should not have been done without a test run of at least a year.

If it proved to be a bad thing for our student athletes then we could go independent. This move seems to have been done to protect a few sports, and their coaches, from competing against bigger schools, which is a sad thing to say. Or was there another, hidden, fear that would raise questions across the section. There should have been community input on this decision.