Consultant Studies Separate County Athletic Section

MISSION VIEJO —  The Saddleback Valley Unified School District has hired a consultant to study the feasibility of Orange County high schools forming their own California Interscholastic Federation athletic section, according to Tony Faruzzo, the district’s director of secondary education.

The district contracted Barbara Wilson last fall for a fee of $5,000 to do the study. Wilson, formerly deputy superintendent for the Tustin Unified School District, also does consultant work for the CIF state office.

“We feel that a number of school districts are also interested in this and anticipate that they will pay part of that cost,” Faruzzo said.

Wilson could not be reached for comment.

Orange County’s 69 high schools currently compete in the Southern Section, which has 482 member schools.

While an Orange County Section has been suggested in the past, the idea has been fueled by recent conflicts among seven county school districts and the Southern Section.

The problems center on the section’s decision to allow four county parochial schools to compete in public leagues. At the recent league realignment sessions, Mater Dei, Rosary, Santa Margarita and Servite were placed in public school leagues beginning in 1992.

Public school officials say parochial schools, which have no enrollment boundaries, play under a different set of rules with regard to obtaining top student/athletes.

The Costa Mesa law firm of Rutan & Tucker is representing the seven districts in appealing the Southern Section decision to the CIF.

A three-member panel from the CIF ruled last week that the section had not sufficiently explained the reason for placing the parochial schools in public school leagues and sent the matter back to the section for more documentation.

Rutan & Tucker’s fee, which is between $3,000 and $4,000, is also being paid by the Saddleback Valley District. But Faruzzo said he expects the fee will eventually be divided among the other districts involved in the action.

Faruzzo added that the appeal is not connected with the feasibility study.