BLOOMINGTON – The DuPage Valley Conference is part of four conferences that have proposed an Illinois High School Association amendment for football, recommending football districts be formed by geography and classification. The IHSA released a list of 23 proposals from principals and official representatives of IHSA schools to amend the IHSA Constitution and By-laws.
Proposal 18 was submitted by Mahomet Seymour representative Matt Hensley “on behalf of the Apollo Conference, Big Twelve Conference, DuPage Valley Conference, and Interstate 8 Conference. It called for schools to be grouped in districts for football, rather than the current system of conferences.
According to the proposal, there would be eight districts in each class with eight schools in each district. The top four schools in each district would qualify for the IHSA playoffs.
Rationales for the proposal include a lack of conference stability. The proposal states that more than 20 conferences have changed alignments due to departures or additions in the last 15 years. It also points out that in the last five years, four new conferences have been formed.
Click here to see all 23 proposals
Recently, it was revealed that the DuPage Valley Conference of six teams would merge with the Southwest Suburban Conference of nine teams. The DVC has had difficulty adding local teams to the conference since 2016, when Glenbard North High School, Lake Park High School, Wheaton North High School and Wheaton-Warrenville South High School left for the then newly formed DuKane Conference. The DVC did invite and add DeKalb High School in 2019.
The IHSA Legislative Commission will review the proposals and meet on November 27 to decide whether to “submit each of the 23 proposals to a vote of the general membership.” The final vote by IHSA schools will take place between December 4 and December 18.