The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) Board of Control recently approved significant conference realignment changes for three Milwaukee-area schools. Menomonee Falls and Germantown will move to the North Shore Conference, while Grafton transitions to the Glacier Trails Conference. These adjustments primarily impact non-football athletics, with further realignment decisions for other Milwaukee-area schools pending review before the April 22 Board meeting.
On Tuesday, March 10, the WIAA released a statement detailing the approved shifts. Menomonee Falls and Germantown are now slated to join the North Shore Conference, which already includes Cedarburg, Hartford, Homestead, Nicolet, Slinger, and Whitefish Bay. Concurrently, Grafton will become part of the Glacier Trails Conference, alongside Kettle Moraine Lutheran, Kewaskum, Plymouth, Port Washington, Sheboygan South, West Bend East, and West Bend West.
These changes are specifically designed to affect non-football athletic programs at the involved schools. The WIAA also indicated that additional realignment proposals concerning other Greater Metro schools, the Classic 8 Conference, the Southeast Conference, and independent Milwaukee-area schools are undergoing further evaluation. These outstanding plans will be considered for final approval at the upcoming Board of Control meeting scheduled for April 22.
Previous realignment discussions had generated considerable debate. For instance, an earlier proposal suggested that Carmen South/Carmen Southeast and Milwaukee Reagan would leave the Milwaukee City Conference to join the Southeast Conference, a move that met with strong objections from City Conference officials. However, a more recent proposal from February indicated that Carmen South/Carmen Southeast would operate independently, while Reagan would remain within the City Conference. The WIAA’s Requests and Proposals page confirms that in the updated plan, Franklin, Milwaukee Reagan, and Hamilton will maintain their current conference affiliations following appeals made on February 19, 2026.
Furthermore, earlier plans had projected Franklin and Oak Creek's departure from the Southeast to join the Greater Metro Conference, a group that includes Brookfield Central, Brookfield East, Divine Savior Holy Angels (for girls' sports), Marquette (for boys' sports), Wauwatosa East, and Wauwatosa West. The current proposition now re-establishes Franklin in the Southeast, with Oak Creek joining the Greater Metro alongside Sussex Hamilton and the aforementioned schools. The Classic 8 Conference, under the present proposal, will consist of seven schools: Arrowhead, Catholic Memorial, Kettle Moraine, Mukwonago, Muskego, Oconomowoc, and Waukesha West.
The WIAA outlined the Board's prerogatives regarding realignment recommendations: to either approve, reject, or remand them back to the Task Force. If a plan is remanded, the Task Force will revise it and re-present it at the April Board meeting. Should a proposal be rejected, the conferences will continue under their existing structures.
The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association has confirmed some shifts in conference alignments for area high schools. Several institutions in the Milwaukee region will see changes in their athletic conference memberships, impacting various sports programs. The WIAA Board's decision on these realignments is a step in an ongoing process, with further deliberations expected to shape the future structure of high school sports conferences in the area.