The Area teams were apportioned to various leagues. Divisional Placement involved placing leagues/schools into CIF-SS & CIF State playoff divisions and is usually re-adjusted every two years, but may be done annually depending on the sport.
"Our" Area, the Northern, is the home of some of the new proposal's most controversial changes -namely, moving St. Bonaventure & Oaks Christian to the Parochial Area.
Area Placement
What is it ??Most CIF-SS schools are placed in one of nine 'areas' for organisational purposes. Seven of the areas are regional, two are general categories. The areas are (with general location info): Citrus Belt (San Bernardino/Riverside counties), Coast (South-western LA), Desert (the boonies), Foothill (Northern LA), Mt. SAC (Eastern LA), Northern (SLO/ SB/ Ventura/ NW LA counties), Orange County (The OC, obvs), Parochial (mostly the big Catholic schools), and Small School (like it says).
There are, of course, exceptions to these general descriptions. One of the most notable for our purposes, is that almost all of the small schools in the Northern Area geographic region have remained in the Northern Area and not moved to the Small Schools Area.
A few schools are outside the area system either because they are new, transferred to Southern Section, or are in transit within the section, etc. . These schools are placed in the 'New School' or 'Free-lance' administrative areas, which don't really exist as functioning areas.
NOTE: Throughout this process schools can only address their own situation, not that of any other school.
What is the Process ??
This cycle the CIF-SS Office has been put in charge of Area Placement realignment. This is the timeline they established and where we are on it-
1.) 14 Sep. 2012 - Surveys were sent to the Principals of all member schools asking if they wished to remain in their area or move to another. These surveys were to be returned to the CIF-SS Office no later than 12 Oct 2012. When the surveys were received, a reported 95% of schools wished to remain in the same area.
2.) 24 Oct. 2012 - Members of the CIF-SS Office staff met with the Re-leaguing Chairmen of each of the 9 Areas to discuss the surveys and various issues and concerns.
3.) 26 Nov. 2012 - The CIF-SS Office promulgated its Area Placement recommendations for the 2014-2018 Cycle. The Full Report is HERE.
The staff recommended 31 changes (6 of which effect the Northern Area). Most of these are non-controversial, involving moving schools from free-lance/new school status to an actual Area, but two very controversial moves do involve the Northern Area.
Those moves ? The shift of Oaks Christian and St. Bonaventure to the Parochial Area. Both are already fussing and you can expect a lot more hullabaloo before this is over.
Those were the only two institutions potentially being moved out of the Area, but there are 4 Freelance schools recommended to join the group. They are: Mission College Preparatory School (SLO), Orcutt Academy (Orcutt), Providence Hall HS (Santa Barbara), and Garden Street Academy (Santa Barbara). For those unfamiliar with the later, it is the former San Roque School. They added an "Upper School" at their new Garden Street campus in 2008, and were slated to begin CIF Freelance competition in the Fall of 2012.
It should also be noted that Foothill Technology High School (Ventura) will start their own sports program in the Fall of 2014. Previously, FT students participated for Buena or Ventura. Students who have been playing for the other two schools may continue to do so, but beginning with the 2014-15 freshman class, new students must compete for the school they attend.
The proposed Northern Area
4.) 13 Dec. 2012 - CIF-SS Office staff members met with schools planning to appeal their placement. (Meeting must be requested by 4 pm, Monday, 10 Dec. 2012.)
5.) 19 Jan. 2013 - Presentation of recommendations to the CIF-SS Executive Committee for their approval.
6.) 6 March 2013 - Deadline for schools to file their written appeal applications with the CIF-SS Office.
7.) 20 March 2013 - Appeals consideration & Final Decision by the CIF-SS Executive Committee.
Sooooo - Not so fast my friends. Four schools (Damien, St. Lucy's, Oaks Christian, and St. Bonaventure) went all the way through the process, including re-leaguing, fussing and fighting their placements all the way. They lost at every CIF step, but eventually went to court where both sides agreed to arbitration.
On 7 March 2014, 8 days before Playoff Groupings were to be announced, the arbiter ruled in favor of the 4 schools. CIF responded by sending the three (3) effected Areas (Northern/Mt SAC/Parochial) back to the re-leaguing tables.
Sooooo - Not so fast my friends. Four schools (Damien, St. Lucy's, Oaks Christian, and St. Bonaventure) went all the way through the process, including re-leaguing, fussing and fighting their placements all the way. They lost at every CIF step, but eventually went to court where both sides agreed to arbitration.
On 7 March 2014, 8 days before Playoff Groupings were to be announced, the arbiter ruled in favor of the 4 schools. CIF responded by sending the three (3) effected Areas (Northern/Mt SAC/Parochial) back to the re-leaguing tables.
Re-leaguing
Sooooo - Not so fast my friends. Four schools (Damien, St. Lucy's, Oaks Christian, and St. Bonaventure) went all the way through the process, including re-leaguing, fussing and fighting their placements all the way. They lost at every CIF step, but eventually went to court. And both sides agreed to arbitration.
On 7 March 2014, 8 days before Playoff Groupings were to be announced, the arbiter ruled in favor of the 4 schools. CIF responded by sending the three (3) effected Areas (Northern/Mt SAC/Parochial) back to the re-leaguing tables.
10 Mar 2014: Begin process
7 Apl 2014 (Noon): Submit new proposals
11 Apl 2014 (Noon): Submit any protests (in writing).
16 Apl 2014: CIF-SS Executive Council Meeting - Rule on protests
23 Apl 2014: CIF-SS Executive Council Meeting - Review changes
28 Apl 2014 (Noon): Submit any protests (in writing) to CIF-SS Council.
30 Apl 2014: CIF-SS CIF-SS (Full) Council Meeting - Adopt changes
Playoff Groupings
As mentioned above, Divisional Placement involves placing leagues/schools into CIF-SS/CIF State playoff divisions. This is part of the process at the end of a cycle with re-adjustments by CIF Office staff every two years, or annually (especially CIF State Divisions) depending on the sport.
Some sports (i.e. Football) are fairly rigid, while others (Basketball, Volleyball) change fairly regularly due to enrollment-based requirements.
20 May 2014: CIF Southern Section Playoff Groupings proposal released
28 May 2014: CIF Southern Section Playoff Groupings Appeals Committee panel ruled on appeals.
28 May 2014: Revised Playoff Groupings released.
The 28 May revision Playoff Groupings
Note: Some sports (XC, Basketball, etc.) PGs will not be finalized until the October CBED (attendance) #s are released.
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