Committee Backs Plan for an O.C. Section

The CIF Section Relations Committee voted 6-0 Monday to recommend approval of an Orange County athletic section.

The motion to “offer an Orange County Section for any public or private school that so desires to enter the Orange County Section and that no school, public or private, be required to join that section” will be presented as a non-action item at the State Federated Council in May. It will be voted on at the council’s fall meeting in October.

If a new section is approved, it could begin operations for the fall of 1995, according to Ed Seal, superintendent of the Brea-Olinda Unified School District. The section would consist of 80 schools if every school in the county joins.

The open-ended recommendation left it possible for the smaller private schools to remain in the Southern Section.

There are 13 schools in the county with enrollments between 45 and 720 students. Officials from the smaller schools have expressed concerns about being forced into an Orange County Section. They felt that there were not enough schools of equal size to have a fair playoff format.

The smaller schools could remain in the Southern Section or be part of a two-section playoff format. Officials from both sections said that such a co-op playoff was a possibility.

Mater Dei and Servite, two of the county’s Catholic schools, also could decide to remain in the Southern Section. Officials from both schools said they would like to keep their options open. Santa Margarita, Orange County’s other large Catholic school, did not have an official at the meeting.

Resolutions from 13 of 15 county school districts have filed resolutions in favor of an Orange County Section. Anaheim Union School District and Fullerton Union School District have remained neutral, but Seal said he is confident the 14 schools from those districts would be a part of the section.