Residents Against Norwood Move To TVL Not Giving Up

NORWOOD, MA — If all goes according to plan, the Norwood Mustangs will be playing in the Tri-Valley League (TVL) next fall, but that's not stopping residents from trying to stop the move out of the Bay State Conference.

The school committee was recently presented with a 400-name petition asking the committee to take a new look at the issue and restudy if leaving Norwood's longtime athletic conference is the right thing to do.

"It might be the right decision, might not be the right decision. But if we rush without looking at the necessary facts we're setting our student-athletes up for failure," resident Scott Clifford said at Wednesday's school committee meeting.

Opponents of the move have accused the committee of rushing to join the TVL without a proper study. Clifford said he thinks the struggles associated with high school athletics go beyond enrollment and start with youth participation numbers.

Resident Bill Naumann said he wanted to see the committee's proposed high school athletics sub-committee study if the TVL is the right league, suggesting that the Hockomock League would be a better fit if it's determined that Norwood should leave the Bay State Conference.

"How can Walpole with 150 more students have one of the most effective and winning programs in the state? Why don't we aspire to be more like Walpole?" Naumann said.

At one point, Naumann accused Chairperson Myev Bodenhofer of pushing the move so her daughter, who is on the soccer team, can play in the TVL, which Bodenhofer denied later in the meeting.

"I made every effort to make the best decision I could. I didn't start this idea, I didn't drive this move. I had no role into this until the first public forum," she said.

Citing the resentment about the move, committee member Patrick McDonough asked for the issue to be placed on a future agenda.

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