Forest City votes unanimously to accept NCC invite, but will stay on contingency of the vote

A three-decade-old rumor is getting closer to becoming a reality, but for now, Forest City will stay in the Top of the Iowa Conference.

Late last week, KIOW’s Zarren Egesdal publicly broke the news that the North Central Conference had invited three Top of Iowa Conference schools, Forest City, GHV, and Eagle Grove, to join the conference. The North Central Conference Executive Board approved the invites during its September meeting, and Forest City, GHV, and Eagle Grove would’ve had active membership starting in the 2026-2027 school year.

The conference proposed two divisions, the tradition and pride divisions.

(Schools from biggest to smallest using ’23-’24 BEDS (Basic Educational Data Survey) numbers.

Tradition: Webster City (407), Charles City (383), Clear Lake (356), Algona (352), Humboldt (350), Hampton-Dumont-CAL (344)

Pride: Iowa Falls-Alden (283), Eagle Grove (249), Forest City (239), Clarion-Goldfield-Dows (229), GHV (223), St. Edmond’s (118)

All three schools brought the invite to a vote last night at their monthly school board meetings, and Forest City and Eagle Grove both voted unanimously in favor with the contingency that all schools vote to confirm. GHV, on the other hand, voted 3-2 against, meaning Forest City and Eagle Grove will stay in place for now.

Though unanimous, board vice president Beth Clouse had concerns before the vote.

Board president Troy Thompson clarified the timeline of the proposed move, stating that this change would take effect in the 2026-2027 school year.

The Top of Iowa Conference updated its bylaws the last time schools considered making a change. The new bylaws mandated that schools give a one-year notice in the spring, forcing them to finish that school year and compete in one additional year before making a change. Activities director Chad Moore noted that on Monday night.

Those bylaws were enforced on Rockford, which is now in its first season in the Iowa Star Conference. Rockford initially thought about leaving for the Iowa Star before the ’23-’24 school year but was forced to wait an entire school year.

Clouse also commented on the travel with the proposed move to the NCC.

Moore responded that once they have a seat at the “NCC table,” conversations will be not only about athletics but also about education for the student-athletes.

Right now, the average distance from Forest City High School to schools in the Top of Iowa West is 31.6 miles, with the most extended trip 55 miles to Eagle Grove and the shortest trip 14 miles to GHV. In the proposed pride division, Forest City’s travel would increase to 53.4 miles, with the longest trip 78 miles to Fort Dodge St. Edmonds and the shortest trip 14 miles to GHV. Forest City’s trip to tradition divison schools would be 53.4 miles, with the longest trip to Humboldt and Webster City at 67 miles and the shortest to Clear Lake at 24 miles if you include the 12-school proposed NCC. Forest City’s average trip would be 54 miles, with the longest and shortest trips still to St. Eds and GHV, respectively.

So what happens now? Forest City and Eagle Grove leaving for the NCC isn’t a closed book. The executive board of the NCC will likely look to invite a different school to be the third willing to leap with Forest City and Eagle Grove. That school could come from the TIC or possibly other conferences.

KIOW reached out to GHV for comment, but as of the time this story was published, GHV had not responded to that request.