COLTON - Colton-Pierrepont Central School Superintendent Joseph A. Kardash said he’s open to a boys’ basketball merger with Parishville-Hopkinton and is expecting his board to vote on the proposed agreement when they meet next month.

“We’re certainly willing to work with our neighbors,” Mr. Kardash said. “We’re awaiting a request.”

Parishville-Hopkinton Superintendent Darin P. Saiff said that request will come following his board’s meeting on Oct. 15.

“Our board would have to approve it at their next meeting,” he said.

The request would go before the Colton-Pierrepont Central School Board of Education at its Oct. 17 meeting.

“If approved by both boards, it would then have to be approved by the NAC (Northern Athletic Conference),” Mr. Saiff said.

Mr. Kardash said that approval would have to come at the NAC’s November meeting, which will take place prior to the start of the season on Nov. 12.

The merger, if approved, will send boys from Parishville-Hopkinton to Colton-Pierrepont to play basketball for the Colts.

“I doubt we could field both a JV and varsity team without merger,” Mr. Kardash said.

Mr. Saiff agreed, noting the merger will be a great benefit to the students of both districts.

“When students go directly from modified to varsity, it’s a pretty significant change,” he said. “A junior varsity program is a great way for students to transition to that change.”

Both districts will continue to house their own in-house modified programs.

“I’m hoping this creates an opportunity for our male basketball players to develop in a three-tier program,” Mr. Saiff said.

Mr. Kardash agreed.

“We’re always looking for ways to enhance programming for our kids,” he said. “I think this merger has the potential to do that.”

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