Recently, a vote took place on whether or not the OK conferences would be realigning. Locally, the plan was to have Muskegon and Jenison move from the OK-Red into the OK-Black, Shore’s conference, moving Holland and Forest Hills Central into divisions much better suited to their size.

The alignment was voted on Wednesday, May 4. A three-fourths majority vote was required to pass. Both principals and athletic directors of each school were required to vote.

The vote turned to 41-9 in favor of the proposal in the athletic director vote, setting the stage for the principal vote.

The vote turned to be 37-13 in favor of the proposal. It wasn’t enough to pass the vote and sent the realignment committee back to the drawing boards.

There was a bit of drama in the voting, as one of the school’s principals was absent to the voting.

The principal of Wyoming Park High School, Pete Foote, was not in attendance of the voting held at Hudsonville High School, which automatically made his vote a "no" against the proposal. Had Foote had been to the meeting his "yes" vote would have given the three-fourths majority and passed the proposal.

Shores Athletic Director Ryan Portenga said that he cast his vote as a "yes."

"The reason why I voted yes is because it would’ve given us room to schedule more local games which would’ve cost less and given a chance for the away teams to bring more fans which would in turn bring more money to the school," Mr. Portenga said. "It would also give us the chance to schedule the game where the teams have a closer skill level, so we could have a more competitive schedule."

Shores Principal Jennifer Bustard said that realignment would’ve brought more traditions and rivalries to the school.

"I voted yes because the realignment would’ve brought more local schools into the conference which would’ve saved money and would’ve made more local rivalries for all sports," Ms. Bustard said.

New Shores football coach Matt Koziak said that the realignment would have benefits with the football team.

"The new conferences would’ve brought us more local games and would give us a chance to compete with better teams and would give us a chance to perform better," Coach Koziak said.

Varsity softball coach Jason Crago said that the realignement would’ve also brought benefits to the softball team.

"We’re in a pretty middle of the road conference, and bringing in a school like Jenison, who is usually state-ranked, would make us more competitive and give us the chance to compete with great programs," coach Crago said.

As for now, the conferences will stay the same until the realignment committee draws up a new plan that more schools will be pleased with.