STEVENS POINT — The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Conference Realignment Task Force convened Thursday, Jan. 15 to hear appeals for requests that were denied in December and for plans that were modified from their original proposals.

The plans of the current conference realignment process will be implemented in 2027-28. Football-only conference realignment consideration occurs on an alternate-year rotation. 

After deliberation, a modified Lakeside Lutheran proposal and the Appleton West proposal were advanced for possible approval by the Board of Control at its meeting on March 10, 2026. Schools can appeal the Task Force’s recommendations directly to the Board at the meeting, or they can send feedback to the Task Force co-chairs or the Board of Control members representing their districts.

The Lakeside Lutheran proposal would maintain the current structure of the Rock Valley Conference and move Portage from the Badger Conference to the Capitol Conference. The Appleton West plan, upon Board approval, would move Appleton West from the Fox Valley Association to the Bay Conference.

The appeal of the plan originally submitted by Viroqua, which was denied in December, will receive further consideration at the Task Force meeting scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. The proposal moves Viroqua from the Coulee Conference to the Southwest Conference. Schools in those two conferences impacted by the plan may appeal to the Task Force at the Feb. 19 meeting.

Based on the feedback and appeals at Thursday’s meeting, the Task Force amended a four-conference, Milwaukee-area plan impacting the Classic 8, Greater Metro, Southeast and Milwaukee City Conference Conferences.

The modified plan aligns Arrowhead, Catholic Memorial, Hamilton, Kettle Moraine, Mukwonago, Muskego, Oconomowoc and Waukesha West in the Classic 8 Conference. The schools in the Greater Metro Conference would be Brookfield Central, Brookfield East, Divine Savior Holy Angels (girls), Franklin, Marquette (boys), Oak Creek, Wauwatosa East and Wauwatosa West. Milwaukee Academy of Science would remain an independent.

The Milwaukee City Conference would include 20 schools, including Audubon Technology, Carmen Northwest, Golda Meir, Milwaukee Arts, Milwaukee Bay View, Milwaukee Bradley Tech, Milwaukee Hamilton, Milwaukee Juneau, Milwaukee King, Milwaukee Languages, Milwaukee Lifelong Learning, Milwaukee Madison, Milwaukee Marshall, Milwaukee North, Milwaukee Pulaski, Milwaukee Riverside, Milwaukee South, Milwaukee Vincent, Milwaukee Washington, and Obama SCTE. The programs in the Southeast Conference would be Carmen South/Carmen Southeast, Kenosha Bradford, Kenosha Indian Trail, Kenosha Tremper, Milwaukee Reagan, Racine Case, Racine Horlick and Racine Park.

The conference configurations for all the modified realignment plans, as well as all the original realignment proposals submitted, are available on the Conference Realignment Requests and Proposals page of the WIAA Website at https://www.wiaawi.org/Schools/Conferences/Conference-Realignment/Requests-and-Proposals.

The Board of Control will vote on all the recommendations of the Task Force at its meeting Tuesday, March 10. The Board’s options are to approve, reject or remand the realignment recommendations back to the Task Force. If remanded, the Task Force will reconvene to make appropriate changes to the plan before presenting it to the Board of Control again in April. If rejected, the conferences will remain in their current configuration.