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CIF approves affiliate membership

The CIF San Diego Section approved an affiliate membership classification.

A unanimous CIF Board of Managers vote Jan. 22, created the affiliate member classification for schools with fewer than 100 students.

“I think it’s a positive step,” CIF assistant commissioner John Labeta said. “The whole issue is to get them to grow.”

The CIF San Diego Section currently includes 125 public, charter and private high schools. New CIF members are expected to abide by the CIF rules and regulations and promote values, character and leadership in their athletic programs.

The issue of admitting small schools to the CIF led to the creation of the affiliate member status.

“It’s a compromise,” CIF commissioner Jerry Schniepp.

CIF San Diego Section staff reviewed the policies of other sections before developing the affiliate membership category.

“I think we have come up with a positive solution for those schools,” Labeta said.

The minimum of 100 students for full membership is changed to 50 for a single-sex school, and if a minimum of 100 students is documented for the subsequent school year a school will also be considered for full membership. Full members must have at least one boys sport and one girls sport in each season and one additional boys sport and one additional girls sport for a minimum of eight sports, or four sports for a single-sex school.

The application must be submitted by Jan. 1 to be considered for the following school year. The $200 application fee and dues of $0.69 for all enrolled students, $94 per team sport provided and $194 for each individual sport provided must be paid upon the application for membership. The dues are the 2020-2021 amount and are subject to change in subsequent years.

A full member will have a three-year probationary period which includes annual reviews to ensure that appropriate support is provided and the school is adhering to the CIF and conference bylaws and other policies. The schools must document their sports offerings, participation numbers, attendance at conference meetings and other data.

The probationary period ends after three years if a school is determined to be in good standing, but if the school does not adhere to policies conditions to membership may be added and a school's CIF membership may be terminated or downgraded to affiliate membership.

Affiliate members must have at least 25 students in the high school grades and must offer one boys sport or one girls sport, a single-sex school needs to offer only one total sport. The membership fees which must be paid upon application are a $200 application fee and dues of $0.69 for all enrolled students and $94 per sport provided.

Affiliate members will not be part of a conference, and teams and individual students will not be eligible for postseason competition. Affiliate members will compete at the junior varsity or novice levels for team sports but not at the varsity level.

“It gives them opportunities to get started,” Schniepp said. “I think it’s a good solution. It’s been a great process.”

Any existing school with fewer than 100 students is grandfathered and can retain full CIF membership. The Children’s Creative and Performing Arts Academy had 35 students of high school age during 2018-2019. The public school in the CIF San Diego Section with the smallest enrollment is Warner High School, which currently has 62 students. In the November 1994 election the town’s voters transitioned the K-8 elementary school district into a K-12 unified district so that Warner Springs students wouldn't have to be transported to Julian High School; the high school and middle school are on the same campus.

Bonsall High School opened in 2014 with 66 ninth graders but did not apply for CIF membership until 2015, when the school also had 10th graders and enrollment exceeded 100 students. The three most recent public high schools to open – Del Norte, Mission Vista and Sage Creek – all began with freshmen only and did not field varsity sports in their first year.

A student must qualify for the CIF individual championships through performances at the varsity level, so the lack of varsity competition will prevent students at affiliate member schools from qualifying for postseason participation in individual sports. That is also the case for students at schools with ninth graders only and no varsity teams.

The issue of a freshman at a new school winning a CIF championship is theoretical although a freshman winning a CIF championship in an individual sport has occurred. Milena Glusac, who graduated from Fallbrook High School in 1993, won four girls 1,600-meter championships and four girls 3,200-meter championships. Glusac attended Bonsall Elementary School, which at the time had students from kindergarten through eighth grade, before her Fallbrook High School years and thus would have not been allowed to compete at the CIF meet if Bonsall High School had opened with ninth graders only for her freshman year.

A student-athlete who enrolls at a high school with varsity sports for their freshman year and then transfers to a new high school when that school also has sophomores and varsity competition is subject to the requirement for a transfer student to sit out of competition for 30 days.

However, qualifying performances can be obtained later in the season and in some cases only during the league event following the conclusion of the regular season, so a transfer in such a situation would not prevent the sophomore from competing at the CIF meet or tournament.

Author Bio

Joe Naiman, Writer

Joe Naiman has been writing for the Village News since 2001

 

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