Lapeer Merging High Schools could give Dragons some problems in the future

Written Tuesday May 28th, at 1:40 AM

Lapeer will merge its two High Schools starting in 2014-2015. The schools currently Lapeer East and Lapeer West will be Lapeer High School. The school board unanimously approved the merger calling it cost cutting and there are people in that area who are not happy about the decision to merge together.

This will be the first time since 1976 that Lapeer will have one high school. Lapeer East opened up in 1976. The original Lapeer High School was at Lapeer West. No new nickname was given as of yet for the new Lapeer High School. The Lapeer school district will have a community vote to decide the new nickname and new colors.

The students will be all at Lapeer East High School while Lapeer West High School will be used as an innovative center for students for alternative education and dual enrollment.

The Lapeer schools will be in the Flint Metro League for the 2013-2014 school year as Lapeer East and Lapeer West but in 2014-2015 when both schools merge, Lapeer High School would not be in the Flint Metro League because their class enrollment and that's a shame. The Flint Metro League's biggest school is Swartz Creek with 1222 students while it's smallest school is Linden at 923 students.

It is possible that there maybe a new conference that would bring Lapeer in would bring it great advantages to play in but also there are cons as well, here are the pros and cons of Lapeer being in the league.

Kensington Lakes Activities Association:

PRO'S: Would create a rivalry with Grand Blanc in the KLAA West and would play better competition.

CON'S: Travel would be a nightmare, if placed in the KLAA West, Lapeer would have to go to into Genesse County (Grand Blanc) then into Livingston County (Howell, Brighton, Hartland), then into Oakland County (Milford, Lakeland, Novi, South Lyon, South Lyon East, Waterford Kettering, Waterford Mott, Walled Lake Western, Walled Lake Northern, Walled Lake Northern, Lakeland), Wayne County (Northville, Plymouth, Salem, Canton, Livonia Stevenson, Livonia Churchill, Livonia Franklin, Westland John Glenn)

Genesee Area Conference:

PRO'S: Geographically it make sense for Lapeer to join this conference.

CON'S: Enrollment makes it hard for Lapeer to join this conference.

Saginaw Valley Association: * Most likely could be the conference they would be in.

PRO'S: Can create rivalries and would be placed in the south division with Davison and Flint Carman Ainsworth each season along with the Flint schools (Flint Northwestern, Flint Powers Catholic, Flint Southwestern Academy, and Flushing.) 

Has the enrollment to do it.

CON'S: Travel, bet that Lapeer doesn't want to travel north to the Tri-Cities often (Midland, Bay City, and Saginaw) if they have to go north during the season.

Oakland Activities Association:

PRO'S: Could renew a rivalry with Oxford since Oxford is close by to it's south. Also renew rivalries with Lake Orion and Clarkston.

CON'S: Travel might not be as bad unless you go south of the M-59 corridor for Lapeer then it could be a problem or if teams south of M-59 have to travel up to Lapeer for a game.

Lake Orion Factor:

Now what does this mean for Lake Orion if it does have to face Lapeer in sports, what would Lapeer bring to the table that could give the Dragons problems.

The first could be football and that’s because of enrollment, with this move it is possible that Lapeer could be in Division One for playoffs if they get there and if they are not then there is a real possibility that Oxford could move up to Division One and face the Dragons in the postseason. Lapeer could have enough students enrolled to be in Division One but Lapeer will most likely be a Division Two school with it's enrollment.

The next threat is girl’s basketball, there is nothing from Lapeer East but the problem could be Lapeer West. The Panthers have had success in girls basketball and it is possible that since they are merging at Lapeer East’s campus that the MHSAA could put Lapeer back into Oakland County with the likes of Lake Orion, Clarkston, Oxford, etc, in a district or they could keep them west with Davison and Grand Blanc, so that too could be an interesting situation.

I think a perfect nickname for Lapeer would be the Griffins. It would have both the Eagles and Panthers surroundings on it and the colors don't have to change, they can have green, gold, and black but I'm not going to have a say on it, it will be the Lapeer residents who will have the final say.

We’ll check back on the situation as we get more on this story.