JAY – The School Committee will consider sanctioning a girls’ cooperative soccer team made up of athletes from two school systems as an official school-sponsored varsity/junior varsity program.

Girls from Jay and Livermore Falls high schools formed the Jay-Livermore Falls Wildcats as a club in 2004 with volunteer coaches. The schools provided transportation and referees.

The request for sanction will be considered at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 1, at Jay Middle School.

SAD 36 directors will also take up the request but a date hadn’t been set as of Wednesday, Livermore Falls High School Athletic Director Sally Boivin said.

Initially, there were 14 or 15 girls interested between the two schools, with the number growing to 18 or 19 the second year and 31 girls last year, Jay Athletic Director Kenric Charles said.

The team played a junior varsity schedule and now both school systems share the cost of team expenses, including coaches, transportation, supplies, uniforms and game officials.

If the team needs something extra, players and coaches raise the money themselves.

Charles and Boivin worked together to support the program, Charles said.

Prior to the Wildcats formation, the girls played on each school’s boys’ soccer teams in a co-ed fashion.

“But it’s tough for girls to compete against boys at the varsity level,” Boivin said. “So this is a good opportunity to compete against girls at their own level.”

The first step in sanctioning an athletic program and team starts with the local school boards, Charles said.

If both boards approve, then they’ll ask the Maine Principals’ Association to sanction the cooperative team, he said.

The girls team would compete in Class B due to the combined number of students at each school, Boivin said. The team would follow a Mountain Valley Conference schedule, but when it comes to state competition it will play in Class B, she said.

Charles said money for the program is in the proposed 2007-08 budget. They’ve been able to support the team from various accounts in the budget and some money from the concession stand in the past.

Boivin said she budgeted $500 for supplies and $500 for referees last year and believes Jay pays similar amounts.

The coaches’ stipends combined are about $3,600 and the two school systems split that cost, Boivin said.