Committee Will Consider Breaking Section Into Regions

The Southern Section has formed a committee to consider breaking the section into regions, former Brea-Olinda Superintendent Ed Seal said Wednesday.

Seal, a committee member, said such an alignment would create an Orange County region within the Southern Section. The committee, formed in November, has met three times to consider dividing the section into regions for playoff purposes.

Southern Section Commissioner Dean Crowley was unavailable for comment. He has said he would be interested in such a plan.

“Everything is still at the discussion state at this point,” Seal said. “We need to determine what a regionalization would look like.”

A movement by county officials to secede from the Southern Section failed in October. The State Federated Council voted, 52-48, against forming the new section.

The defeat left Orange County section proponents grasping for options. They discussed bringing the issue to another vote before the council at its meeting in October, 1995. Another plan was to wait for the State Strategic Planning Committee to complete its report, which is due next winter.

“Right now, we’re looking at what’s best for the long haul,” Anaheim Union District Superintendent Cynthia Grennen said.

The possibility of regionalizing the Southern Section appears to be the most viable option. Seal said the process could create an Orange County region, which has more local control, a key issue among county superintendents.