County Principals Go Back to Drawing Board

Area principals will gather their maps, attendance figures and win-loss records and convene next week in another attempt to realign the county’s 10 athletic leagues for the 1998-2002 school years.

Huntington Beach Principal Jim Staunton, chairman of the releaguing committee, said principals will face three major challenges when they meet Nov. 13 at Fountain Valley High. They must decide where to place Esperanza, which wants out of the Sunset League for geographical concerns, and parochial powers Mater Dei and Santa Margarita.

“Esperanza will be the first part of our deliberation,” Staunton said.

It was Esperanza Principal Ray Plutko’s threat of appeal, which helped bring about the Southern Section council’s 35-24 vote Oct. 21 against the most recent realignment proposal.

That vote also scuttled a controversial two-year “pilot program” that would have prevented Mater Dei and Santa Margarita from competing for league titles in 11 varsity sports in their new leagues. Mater Dei was to move from the South Coast to the Sunset, and Santa Margarita from the Sea View to the South Coast.

The proposal came about after Marina Principal Carol Osbrink threatened to appeal the original realignment proposal, which moved Marina from the Sunset to the Pacific Coast League, on grounds that it ignored competitive equity, enrollment and travel costs.

Dean Crowley, Southern Section commissioner, said Tuesday it was imperative that Staunton’s committee have a proposal by January because athletic directors must begin scheduling games for the fall.

“The council still has to approve the releaguing proposal,” Crowley said. “It would be a nightmare for the athletic directors if this goes all the way into May. [The proposal] should be in place by January.”

Plutko said Tuesday he would not bring any proposals to next week’s meeting.

“I want to see what develops in the first meeting,” Plutko said. “We don’t want to set any tones.

“It is not our desire to remain in the Sunset League. Our objective is for a league placement in North Orange County to answer our academic and geographic needs. I have a couple of ways to address it, but I don’t want to say what they are yet. But it is incumbent on me to be as creative as possible to solve the problems.”

Esperanza is close in proximity to schools in the Empire and Century leagues. However, competitive equity [Esperanza plays at the Division I level, schools in the Century and Empire leagues play in Division V] and enrollment are other matters.

“They started in our league, but the reality is they are at least 1,000 students bigger than any of the schools in the league now,” said El Dorado Principal Joe Quartucci, whose school competes in the Empire League.

“Having them come back is no fairer to our students than it is for us to go to the Sunset. There is no good natural place to put Esperanza; they don’t fit into leagues around them and that is the crux of the problem.”

Santa Ana Valley Athletic Director Leon Smith, whose school competes in the Century League, was equally as blunt.

“Geographically, I am more compatible with Mater Dei, but do you think I can compete with them on a regular basis?” Smith said. “We don’t have that kind of athletic pool at Valley. Esperanza does have the pool. You put them in a league with an Orange or an El Modena and it doesn’t make a lot of sense.

“I feel for Esperanza. They are like everyone else and don’t want to be in the same league with Mater Dei. As soon as [Mater Dei was relocated to the Sunset League], in my opinion, the distance ‘problem’ increased dramatically.”

Mater Dei Principal Pat Murphy had proposed the Catholic Athletic Assn. create four regional leagues for its 16 schools. However, Sister Cheryl Milner, principal at Bellarmine-Jefferson and CAA president, said the Catholic schools in Los Angeles already have completed their realignment through 2002 and will not be making any changes.

“That makes it a dead issue for us in Orange County,” Murphy said. “We will go wherever we are placed within reason, given the criteria.”

Santa Margarita Athletic Director Richard Schaaf said his school is adamant about remaining in a public school league.

“We will go wherever the principals decide is the best place for us,” Schaaf said.

“As long as we stay in South Orange County, we are OK, whether it’s the South Coast or Sea View league.”