Garces appeals CIF Realignment proposal By Terry Kibler Garces High School in Bakersfield has joined the East Sequoia League in appealing a May 14 vote of the Central Section's executive committee to realign high school sports leagues for the 2004-2006 seasons. But Garces' appeal differs significantly from the appeal filed by six schools in the East Sequoia League. Both appeals beat the May 29 filing deadline. A meeting on Aug. 13 in Visalia has been scheduled by Central Section Executive Committee President Mike Henson of Lindsay to hear both appeals. East Sequoia League schools, supported by schools in the Central Sequoia League, including Selma and Kingsburg, are appealing on the grounds that the approved realignment for the Sequoia Division, which creates two eight-team leagues and one six-team league, violated their due process rights by not following established procedures. They also claim that the proposed 8-8-6 realignment for the division goes against guidelines supported by the Superintendent's Inter-League CIF Council intended to minimize time spent out of classrooms by students and attempts to hold down the economic impacts of transportation and other costs on schools and leagues. Led by Gene Etheridge, principal of Orosi High School, the ESL has submitted three counterproposals that would create four leagues. One counterproposal would arrange them in a 5-5-6-6 setup, while the other has six teams in each of the four leagues. A key factor in the ESL's counterproposals is that schools now aligned in the North Sequoia League would remain that way, thereby preventing such schools as Selma and Kingsburg from having to travel to Dos Palos and Chow-chilla, as well as Sierra in Tollhouse and Yosemite in Oak-hurst, and Exeter and other ESL schools from having to go to Coalinga. The current North Sequoia League, led by Washington Union, Chowchilla, Kerman, Coalinga and Dos Palos, supported the 8-8-6 realignment plan. They received enough voting support from schools in the Yosemite and Sierra divisions to win its approval by a 17-14 tally on May 14. Garces' appeal is based on its belief that its placement in the realigned Southeast Yosemite League jeopardizes its football teams. Garces officials said that the five other Bakersfield schools in the SYL -- Bakersfield, East, Foothill, Highland and Liberty -- were all significantly larger in numbers. "The disparity will be particularly acute, and possibly unsafe, in football," said Garces' rector and chairman of its board, Rev. Msgr. Ronald J. Swett, in his appeal letter to the section's commissioner, James Crichlow, on May 29. Swett said that of Garces' 675-student enrollment, it has about 330 boys from which to draw to form its three football teams. He said there are often less than 100 boys who turn out for football. "There are schools in the Southeast Yosemite League that regularly suit up nearly twice as many players," Swett said. "Given the physical nature of the sport, such a discrepancy in numbers could lead to potentially dangerous mismatches on the field, especially with our lower-level teams. For example, our junior varsity team only had 23 players last year." Garces offered two counterproposals, both involving football only. One would take all 18 schools in the Southeast Yose-mite, Southwest Yosemite and South Sequoia leagues and divide them into three leagues, based on competitiveness. Garces in all likelihood would remain in its current location in the South Sequoia League if that counterproposal were to be chosen at the appeal hearing, since it is about the same size as the other schools and more than competitive within the SSL. In its other counterproposal, Garces is asking that it be removed from the Southeast Yosemite League and returned to the South Sequoia League. Its members now include Arvin, Golden Valley of Bakersfield, Shafter, Taft, Tehacha-pi and Wasco. If either or both are unsuccessful in their appeals, the ESL and Garces can appeal to the Federated Council of California, the governing body for high school sports. (June 18, 2003 Newspaper Publication) |