Parochial Schools Allowed to Join Public Ones in ’92 : Southern Section: Schools such as Mater Dei will be able to join leagues that until now had included only Orange County public schools.

The Southern Section’s general council approved a proposal Thursday that would allow its member schools to join any geographic area for the purpose of placing them into athletic leagues beginning in 1992.

Private and parochial high schools will be allowed to request membership in any Southern Section geographic area, meaning parochial high schools such as Santa Margarita, Mater Dei and Servite would be allowed to join leagues that until now had included only Orange County public schools.

Public schools in Orange County now are grouped in leagues with other Orange County public schools; private and parochial high schools in Orange County are grouped with schools outside Orange County.

Many of the county’s 54 public high school principals at Thursday’s meeting opposed the proposal.

“The door is now open so that parochial schools can go into any geographic area,” said William Brand, principal at Trabuco Hills.

“A school like Servite, which is essentially on the border of Orange and Los Angeles counties, can pick and choose where it wants to play. Shouldn’t other schools have some control or say over their destiny?”

William Brelsford, principal of St. Bernard High School and president of the Catholic Athletic Assn., applauded the decision. “The opposition of this whole issue is based on the objections of one area in the Southern Section, Orange County,” Brelsford said.

“On a whim, that area has been allowed to exclude one school (Santa Margarita) from being placed into its area. How can one area dictate to the CIF (Southern Section)?”

Santa Margarita, which lost a series of appeals to join the Orange County geographic area last year, will request placement into the county area beginning in 1992.

Administrators at Mater Dei and Servite said they are uncertain about their future league placements.

“It’s an easy decision for Santa Margarita, but at this point, it’s a bit premature to speak for Mater Dei,” said John Weling, the school’s principal. “When you consider transportation costs and missed class time our students incur playing in a Catholic league, today’s decision is encouraging.”

Council Notes

Football teams in the South Coast and Pacific Coast leagues will be competing in higher playoff divisions beginning next season. South Coast League members move from Division III to Division II and Pacific Coast League members move from Division VIII to Division VII. The Pacific Coast League’s move means there are six leagues in Division VII and each league will be guaranteed only two entries in the playoffs.