Conference Releaguing Sought : High schools: Principals to be asked to change Northwest Valley and Valley Pac-8 setup for 1994-95.

Principals of the 16 high schools in the City Section’s Northwest Valley and Valley Pac-8 conferences will be asked to voluntarily releague the conferences for the 1994-95 season, Commissioner Hal Harkness said Monday.

Harkness told the Interscholastic Athletics Committee on Monday that the conferences are not “competitively balanced” in many major sports and that change is needed.

Harkness said IAC will direct the principals to meet over the next few months to research the strengths and weaknesses of their programs and realign the conferences based on competitive strength. The changes likely will go into effect in the fall of 1994.

IAC’s releaguing committee, which has been trying for months to move Reseda from the Northwest Valley to the Valley Pac-8, instead suggested that many schools need reshuffling.

“At least six of the top football teams in the Valley are in the same (Northwest Valley) conference,” said Fairfax Principal Michael O’Sullivan, chairman of the releaguing committee. “We’re suggesting that the 16 principals get together and develop the idea.”

Harkness said the current alignment “doesn’t have the proper mix” of schools to equitably divide the eight-team conferences into two four-team leagues, one in the 3-A Division and one in the 4-A.

An earlier proposal to move Pac-8 member Sylmar into the Northwest Valley in place of Reseda had been shot down, Harkness said. Sylmar won the City 4-A Division football title last fall, but the remainder of the Pac-8 is not considered particularly strong, he said.

“The balance of power lies in the Northwest Valley,” Harkness said. “Had we moved Sylmar into the Northwest Valley, we would have taken the best team from one conference and placed it into a stronger one. That creates even more of a void (in the Pac-8).”

There was no immediate resolution to Reseda’s longstanding request to rejoin the Pac-8. Reseda, 8-13 in conference play over the past three seasons, was moved from the Pac-8 to Northwest Valley three years ago in place of struggling Canoga Park.

The move was scheduled to last two years, but realignment was tabled in 1991-92 because of problems associated with the district’s move to a year-round calendar. Harkness directed Reseda to document the strengths and weaknesses of its athletic programs and to present the findings to IAC next month.

“We still need to give short-term relief to Reseda,” he said. “Even if it’s just for one year.”