Monday, the Central Illinois Conference voted to remove Decatur St. Teresa from the Central Illinois Conference.

It is a decision that is disappointing to St. T principal Larry Daly who is the President of the Central Illinois Conference. Daly spoke with Regional Radio News on the vote and indicates this process started last spring with concerns over the admissions process to the school. Daly had hoped at that time they addressed any misunderstandings.

According to Daly, this fall, it was again brought up to remove his school from the conference because it was believed their presence made it unappealing to other schools to join the conference.

Daly lobbied for his school to simply be removed from the conference for football but that was rejected by conference members. Additionally, in the midst of the meeting, Sullivan withdrew from the conference and announced they will join the Lincoln Prairie.

When this was first proposed, it was brought up the conference faced dissolution if St. T remained a member of the CIC, however, Daly disputes that would have been the case because now St. T is faced with finding another conference and he points out there aren't many conferences looking to add schools.

Daly recognizes the success of the football program but credits the hard work of those student-athletes and the coaches in the program. He says he's trying to understand the reasoning for the decision.

Daly says every student that attends Decatur St. Teresa High School pays tuition and they do offer assistance to students that can show need and there is a process to receive that assistance based on tax return information and there is no preferential treatment to athletes.