CIF approves oversight for new member schools

The CIF San Diego Section has a policy on applications for CIF membership, and on April 6 the CIF Board of Managers approved revisions to that policy.

"It calls for greater oversight of our new member schools," said CIF commissioner Jerry Schniepp.

"We weren't providing good oversight to those new schools," Schniepp said. "We want to help them, but we want to hold them accountable."

An application for CIF membership is reviewed by the conferences, and the CIF Coordinating Council then takes an advisory vote before the application is voted upon by the CIF Board of Managers. The review process ensures that athletic participation and programs are an extracurricular activity which benefits not only the participants but all members of the school's student body and are focused to improve academic achievement and teach the values of citizenship as a contributing member in society. Representatives of schools seeking CIF membership must meet with the CIF to discuss membership requirements and expectations and the school's program philosophy. The membership application is followed by a site visit from a CIF representative.

Each school must initially offer at least one sport per gender per season. Prior to the April 6 modifications, each school was also required to offer one additional sport per gender, although the minimum number of sports was reduced from eight to six provided that at least one sport per gender is offered each season.

In some cases schools have met the minimum requirement but did not have competition in all sports listed on the CIF membership application. "If they don't field these sports, number one, we want to find out why," Schniepp said.

Sometimes the reason is due to lower than expected student participation while on other occasions the lack of a coach keeps a school from participating in that sport.

"We want them to see that there is a plan in place to correct that issue," Schniepp said. "It's a method of oversight that I think will be helpful."

In the past the CIF office has relied only on the applications and not on the actual sports offering.

"We haven't followed up with these schools," Schniepp said. "So many of our newer members have fewer than 200 students attending the school. It's not even fielding all these sports."

Most of the new CIF members are private schools. "They're often small schools," said Schniepp. "They're often challenged for facilities. It's a lot for a school in year one."

The most recent new public school is Bonsall High School, which currently has fewer than 200 students. The oversight policy applies to the Legionnaires.

"Anyone who has been a member for two years or less would be," Schniepp said. "We would go back and review where they're at and request documentation."

Bonsall High School was granted CIF membership for the 2015-16 school year. The initial plan was to field cross-country, girls golf, girls tennis, and volleyball during the fall. Due to insufficient participation, girls golf and girls tennis were not fielded in fall 2015 and the girls programs were combined with the boys programs, which are spring sports.

"We are just happy that they're paying attention to the new schools," said Bonsall Unified School District superintendent Justin Cunningham.

Bonsall High School opened in 2014 with freshman only and will expand by one grade each year until the school has all four high school grades in 2017-18. This year, Bonsall has only freshmen and sophomores and the school will have three grades during 2016-17.

"The natural evolution is that you're going to add a whole class of kids the following year, which increases your chances of fielding teams," Schniepp said.

A school accepted for CIF membership is given probationary status for its first three years. If the school is not part of a school district affiliated with a conference, the school will initially compete in the Frontier Conference.

Prior to the Bonsall reorganization, the last school district to transition from a K-8 elementary school district to a K-12 unified district and open its own high school was the Warner school district in 1994.

Non-compliance with CIF, conference, school district, or other agency provisions during the first year will result in termination of the school's CIF membership. Non-compliance during the second or third year may result in termination of the school's membership. Probationary status may be extended if a school fails to comply with the policies.

The revisions eliminated the requirement that the school be in the Frontier Conference for at least three years and be prepared to join and participate in another conference at the end of that three-year period or terminate its CIF membership. The changes added that at the end of the first year, probationary schools will submit documentation that they are meeting the various requirements, and the section office may require a meeting to discuss compliance.

"I think we're providing pretty good assistance," Schniepp said.

The oversight to improve the chances that schools are fielding promised sports also reduces the chance that a league schedule will be altered due to the elimination of a team. Bonsall High School is in the Frontier Conference's Apollo League, and the Apollo League girls tennis schedule initially included the Legionnaires before insufficient turnout caused Bonsall to drop girls tennis for fall 2015.

The review will also include whether a true team exists. "We need to continue to define what that means," Schniepp said. "You can say you're fielding a track team and have one track athlete."

A high school track and field meet has 16 boys events and 16 girls events, so if a school has an insufficient number of athletes it will not receive points in events in which it does not participate but will still have a team score. A swim team which does not have enough swimmers to compete in all 11 events also cedes the points for those events during a dual meet while a school which fields wrestling but does not have grapplers in all 14 weight classes forfeits those matches in which the other team has a wrestler at that weight.

Golf team scores add a school's five lowest rounds while cross-country team scores are based on the positions of the first five runners, and if a team does not have five athletes no team score is obtained.

"That to me is not fielding a sport," Schniepp said. "There's a minimum number of golfers to have a match. If you're not fielding a team you're not fielding a sport in my mind."

If a school does not have gymnastics or aquatics, a gymnast or diver may compete as an individual at the league meet and at the CIF meet if the athlete qualifies; individuals usually join teams competing in dual meets to obtain scores and may be assigned to a league for league meet purposes if their school is not already in a league with that sport.

The approval of the modifications also clarified that the application fee must be included with an application for CIF membership.

"I think this is a positive step for us," Schniepp said. "It's good for CIF member schools, and it's good for the section as a whole."