The Sweetwater Union High School District will be making an effort to pull out of the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) San Diego Section before the school year ends. They are intent on creating their own section for their districts' sports programs. They have reached out to San Diego Unified, Grossmont Unified and Imperial Unified School Districts to see if they would like to join this new section; both SAn Diego and Grossmont have declined and Imperial is still considering the proposal.
The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) is the governing body for high school sports in the state of California. It mirrors similar governing bodies in other states; however, it differs from some of the others in that it covers most high schools in the state of California, both public and private. It also differs from other states in that it does not have a single, state-wide "State" championships in all sports; instead, for some sports, the CIF's 10 Sections each have their own championships.
Sweetwater is part of the CIF San Diego Section and it competes against schools from across the section in all sports. If it created its own section, it would limit its competition to just schools within its new section. The District's schools have had success competing in the CIF, with Eastlake Football and Girls Soccer winning CIF titles this year, and Otay Ranch Boys Volleyball being the reigning CIF Boys Volleyball champions.
Sweetwater schools pay between $2500 and $5000 per school per year to be a member of CIF. The District pays around $50,000 per year in total.
So what is the benefit to the District schools and student athletes? Their will be the obvious savings of the membership fees. Also, some feel that the District schools are not competitive against the rest of the CIF schools, so creating a new section will allow a majority of the District schools to be competitive.
But is this what is best for our schools and student athletes? Has the District done its due diligence in gathering community , parent, students, and schools input? Or has District leadership decided to move forward with this proposition without thinking it through?
When a Trustee was contacted about this proposal, this Trustee had no idea about it. A second Trustee was emailed questions about this proposal, but this Trustee did not respond. Unfortunately, this is the norm in this District - Superintendent Ed Brand makes decisions and the Trustees find out about it from the community.
The question remains, why has the District suddenly decided to create its own section, and whats in it for Ed Brand?
The Sweetwater Union High School District will be making an effort to pull out of the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) San Diego Section before the school year ends. They are intent on creating their own section for their districts' sports programs. They have reached out to San Diego Unified, Grossmont Unified and Imperial Unified School Districts to see if they would like to join this new section; both SAn Diego and Grossmont have declined and Imperial is still considering the proposal.
The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) is the governing body for high school sports in the state of California. It mirrors similar governing bodies in other states; however, it differs from some of the others in that it covers most high schools in the state of California, both public and private. It also differs from other states in that it does not have a single, state-wide "State" championships in all sports; instead, for some sports, the CIF's 10 Sections each have their own championships.
Sweetwater is part of the CIF San Diego Section and it competes against schools from across the section in all sports. If it created its own section, it would limit its competition to just schools within its new section. The District's schools have had success competing in the CIF, with Eastlake Football and Girls Soccer winning CIF titles this year, and Otay Ranch Boys Volleyball being the reigning CIF Boys Volleyball champions.
Sweetwater schools pay between $2500 and $5000 per school per year to be a member of CIF. The District pays around $50,000 per year in total.
So what is the benefit to the District schools and student athletes? Their will be the obvious savings of the membership fees. Also, some feel that the District schools are not competitive against the rest of the CIF schools, so creating a new section will allow a majority of the District schools to be competitive.
But is this what is best for our schools and student athletes? Has the District done its due diligence in gathering community , parent, students, and schools input? Or has District leadership decided to move forward with this proposition without thinking it through?
When a Trustee was contacted about this proposal, this Trustee had no idea about it. A second Trustee was emailed questions about this proposal, but this Trustee did not respond. Unfortunately, this is the norm in this District - Superintendent Ed Brand makes decisions and the Trustees find out about it from the community.
The question remains, why has the District suddenly decided to create its own section, and whats in it for Ed Brand?