Liberty Christian’s Principal Upset Over Plan : High schools: Clark Stephens says organizers of county section are moving too fast and aren’t considering the concerns of private schools.

Clark Stephens, principal at Liberty Christian High School in Huntington Beach, wasn’t invited to the Orange County superintendents’ meeting Tuesday at the Anaheim Union High School District office.

So Stephens invited himself.

The meeting was held so the county’s superintendents could discuss the results of a questionnaire circulated by Barbara Wilson, a private consultant.

According to Wilson, the results of the questionnaire showed strong support among the county’s public high schools for a separate county section.

But support from the private schools was difficult to assess, Wilson said, because only five of those 15 schools returned their questionnaires.

Stephens, the only private school representative in attendance Tuesday, said the meeting left him frustrated and confused. He said he felt the superintendents were moving the idea along without giving much thought to how it would affect the county’s private schools.

“My main concern is there haven’t been enough specifics (discussed),” Stephens said. “I don’t see where they’re going to spell everything out to us. I haven’t seen a forum where we can discuss all this.”

In the past, small school representatives have voiced concerns about breaking away from the Southern Section, the largest in the state. How the new section would be governed is an issue, Stephens said; the Southern Section allows a “one school-one vote” system, while some Orange County section backers have expressed interest in a weighted one.

Stephens attended the meeting hoping to get some answers on several issues, including how the county’s small schools might fit into a playoff format.

“As a small school, I have real concerns,” said Stephens, whose school has an enrollment of about 100. “In the Southern Section, there’s almost 100 small schools that we can play. In this new section, there are just seven. To me that’s very detrimental.”

Wilson said the intention of the meeting was to discuss the questionnaire results--the next step is to present the proposal and survey results to the Southern Section Executive Committee on Thursday.

But Stephens said at this point, he doesn’t want to be a member of a county section, especially if present and future organizers refuse to hear the small schools’ concerns.

“If I’m not going to have any voice now, I am going to object,” he said. “Otherwise, it’s not going to do me much good later.”