Dominguez High Praised for Security at Sporting Events

San Gabriel Valley League high school officials, who last fall temporarily banned athletic contests at Dominguez High School, said Thursday that enhanced security at the Compton high school resulted in a winter sports season without violent incidents.

“There were no reports of problems” at any of the basketball, wrestling and soccer contests at Dominguez, said league president and Paramount High School principal Douglas Rozelle.

As a result, spring sports games will be played as scheduled, he said after a meeting Thursday of principals and athletic directors.

Downey District’s Objections

Despite the unanimously upbeat evaluation of Dominguez’s recent security efforts, however, Downey Unified School District trustees still think the district’s two high schools, Downey and Warren, should not be in the same league with Dominguez, said Assistant Supt. Gus Shiney.

Some trustees remain concerned about the high crime rate in Compton, he said. Others have said Downey schools should not be in the same league with Dominguez, because that school has no freshmen and cannot field some teams against Downey’s four-year schools, said Shiney.

The Downey district has asked the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) to consider reorganizing leagues so Downey’s schools will not play Dominguez, Shiney said. The CIF has indicated that realignment is impossible for at least two years, he said.

All six opposing high schools voted a ban on Dominguez games after a Sept. 28 football game ended when a gang fight broke out among spectators.

The six schools maintained that the incident was the latest in a years-long series of security problems at Dominguez, which will remain on league probation through next fall.

A few football, cross-country and volleyball games were forfeited before all of the schools agreed to return to Dominguez.