Civic Memorial High School to Join Cahokia Athletic Conference

BETHALTO - Civic Memorial High School will join the Cahokia Athletic Conference.

During their regular meeting on Feb. 27, 2025, the Bethalto Community Unit School District #8 Board of Education unanimously approved the decision to join the conference, effective for the 2026–2027 school year. Derek Jarman, CM’s incoming athletic director, expressed his excitement about the decision.

“I think it’s great for our kids, great for our programs,” he said. “All of our kids and coaches are pretty excited about it.”

Jarman gave a presentation explaining the benefits of joining the conference during the Feb. 27 Board of Education meeting. He noted that CM will be in the Mississippi division, alongside Jersey, Waterloo, Freeburg, Breese-Central and Columbia. Civic Memorial will also compete against East Alton-Wood River High School and Roxana High School during the football season.

These schools are all comparable in size and academics. Jarman added that the new conference is a great chance to grow existing rivalries and develop new rivalries with the high schools.

Following the Board of Education’s decision, Civic Memorial will leave the Mississippi Valley Conference. Jarman said that the possibility of schools leaving the conference “was always an elephant in the room” when the Mississippi Valley Conference would meet. He emphasized the stability that the Cahokia Athletic Conference will provide.

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“It’s more about stability and great long-term planning for our future,” he explained. “With enrollment changing around us, schools kind of moving around and doing different things all across the nation in terms of this, it’s great for us to find a home where there’s going to be stability, some long-term agreements where we can work and work closely in the classroom and on the athletic fields with these schools that are very similar to us in terms of enrollment.”

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