Principals Give Realignment of Leagues Another Shot

Area principals will try again this afternoon to realign the county’s 10 athletic leagues for the upcoming three-year cycle, beginning in the 1999-2000 school year.

They will meet at Fountain Valley High to examine 21 proposals in hopes of delivering a single proposal to the Southern Section office by its Oct. 23 deadline.

The biggest concern still is where to place Esperanza, which wants out of the Sunset League and to be placed in a league nearer its location in northeast Orange County.

“I’m pleased to see proposals that dealt with the Esperanza issue,” said Huntington Beach Principal Jim Staunton, chairman of the realignment committee.

“Some kept them in the Sunset League for football only, while others put them in leagues of comparable power that help with their geography issue. There’s a good chance a [definitive] proposal should come out of this meeting.”

When there is a new proposal, Staunton said appeals could be made to the section’s executive committee on Nov. 4. The section council would vote on approval of the proposal at its meeting on Jan. 28.

If council members vote down the proposal, they can send it back to the county’s principals for another try or they can make their own changes and vote to approve their own proposal.

“I’m hopeful the council will make a decision one way or the other on Jan. 28,” said Dean Crowley, section commissioner. “Orange County is a year behind [in its league realignment cycle] and athletic directors there need to be able to schedule games.

“If it is sent back, a new proposal would not come back to the council until the end of March, making it difficult to lock in schedules.”

Esperanza Principal Dave Flynn said he is not opposed to his school remaining in the Sunset League for football, but wants Esperanza to move into another league, such as the Century or Empire, for other sports.

“Our main goal is to play geographically closer to home,” Flynn said. “If there is a proposal that will fly with everyone that keeps us in the Sunset for football only, we don’t have a problem with that.”