(KLZA)-- The 2015-16 school year will be another one without a conference affiliation for the Falls City Public School District. 

It has been more than 30 years since the Twin Rivers Conference broke up leaving the Tigers and Auburn Bulldogs out in the cold.  This year for the first time since then Auburn is a member of a conference having been accepted into the East Central Nebraska Conference.

During Monday nights Falls City School Board meeting, Superintendent Tim Heckinlively discussed some of the advantages of conference membership. The advantages include additional opportunities for recognition for kids in athletics and the fine arts.  

It appears about the only hope for Falls City is the ECNC Conference, which is regionally acceptable and has similar sized schools in it now. While there will be no conference affiliation next year, Heckinlively is hopeful there could be a number of shakeups in the next year that might open the door for Falls City to become a member of a conference. The conference could expand and go with north and south or even east – west divisions depending on how things shake out. 

Current ECNC members include Auburn, Johnson County Central, Freeman, Conestoga, East Butler, Elmwood-Murdock, Louisville, Malcolm, Mead, Palmyra, Weeping Water and Yutan.