CIF Upholds Section’s Placing of Santa Margarita With Catholic Schools

A State California Interscholastic Federation panel on Wednesday upheld the Southern Section’s decision to group Santa Margarita High School with other Catholic schools for the purpose of placing the school in an athletic league for 1990-92.

The three-man panel, headed by Wil Concklin , an administrator in the Central Coast Section, listened to 90 minutes of arguments and appeals by attorneys representing Orange County’s 56 public schools, the Catholic Athletic Assn. and Santa Margarita before reaching its unanimous decision at the Airporter Inn in Irvine.

While Santa Margarita exhausted its appeal process under the CIF’s bylaws, an attorney representing the CAA said there is a possibility the organization would litigate the decision.

“We’ll sit down together, talk everything over and reach a decision,” attorney Nicholas Wieczorek said. “We’ll either press the decision in state court or abide by today’s ruling.”

Father Michael Harris, principal of Santa Margarita, said he also was uncertain about future litigation, but added, “I don’t think this is the final chapter. If the CAA is adamant about going to court, I’ll have to think that through.”

Stan Thomas, Southern Section commissioner, said he was satisfied that the issue had finally been resolved within “the CIF family,” but wouldn’t rule out the possibility of future litigation.

“It’s their call now,” Thomas said. “It’s up to the CAA and Santa Margarita whether they want to go to court. I won’t speculate, one way or another.”

The decision Wednesday marked the end of a lengthy appeal process, during which Santa Margarita had been grouped with private, public and Catholic schools over the past nine months.

Last June, the Southern Section’s Executive Committee voted to group Santa Margarita, a 3-year-old school nestled against the hills of Rancho Santa Margarita, with other parochial schools beginning in the 1990-91 school year.

Harris said the school wanted to compete with teams from public schools in the county, primarily because of transportation costs. That grouping would set a precedent in the county but occurs elsewhere in the Southern Section.

Santa Margarita currently competes in the Olympic League, which is composed of private schools with an average enrollment of 470 students. Santa Margarita, with 900 students, is projected to grow to 1,200 by the time its first senior class graduates in 1991.

Because of its projected size, the school must be grouped with either county public schools or with other Catholic schools of similar enrollment next year. But neither the public schools nor the Catholic schools are willing to accept Santa Margarita.

Santa Margarita probably will be placed in the newly formed Mission League, where its closest opponent, Mater Dei, is a 72-mile round trip. The school’s teams would travel to schools such as Alemany (Mission Hills), St. Bernard (Playa del Rey) and Bishop Amat (La Puente) if placed in the Mission League.

The panel did not judge the merits of grouping Santa Margarita with other Catholic schools, but whether the Southern Section’s committee acted reasonably under the articles and bylaws of its constitution and followed its rules and criteria in reaching its decision.

“While I would have been among the minority if I was voting at the Southern Section’s meeting, I have no doubt the committee followed its own rules and criteria and took action on a reasonable basis,” said George Bergna, administrator from the Central Coast Section.

Wieczorek argued that the criteria used by the committee last June was contrary to the section’s constitution.

“This panel’s only concern today was whether the Southern Section followed its own rules in placing Santa Margarita in the parochial area,” Wieczorek said. “They never ruled on merits of the decision. That may be left for someone else to do.”