SoCalHoops HS News

CIF News & Notes: Coaches' Boxes,
Transfers & Foreign Students--(May 8, 2001)

While we were on our way to Indiana for the Spiece Tournament, we sat on the plane reading the LA Times and the preview of  last Thursday's meetings CIF Federated Council meetings which were scheduled for this past weekend at a hotel in Ontario, California. On the agenda were a number of items of interest to those of us who follow basketball (and other sports) here in SoCal.  The CIF Southern Section council had a number of agenda items up for consideration, among them the institution of a formally defined coaches box (not a really big deal), and two other agenda items which are of some greater interest, including a proposal to either (a) make transferring more difficult, (b) make transferring easier, and (c) a proposal regarding high school personnel contact with foreign players prior to enrollment and a certification process which would require high school administrators to declare that no one from a school had any contact with a foreign player or his or her club coach prior to enrollment.

The latter proposal was largely spurred on by the events of the past few years, including the Artesia foreign player scandal (e.g., Amaury/Apolinar Fernandez, Jack Martinez, Ryan Matos and Jon Steffanson), the events surrounding the enrollment of Martin Iti in U.S. schools, and the Montclair Prep players who enrolled last year but who were declared to be ineligible for varsity competition.

What we found unusual though was that the LA Times carried two different accounts of what was supposed to occur at the meeting.  Here's the first, a short blurb which didn't carry any byline:

The state federated council of the California Interscholastic Federation will meet today and Saturday at an Ontario hotel to vote on a number of items, including one that would institute a coaches box for basketball next season. But what might be the hottest topic of the meeting, a proposal to curb transfers for athletic purposes, is only at the discussion stage.  The proposal, which would force school officials to certify that no one connected with their athletic departments or booster clubs made contact with prospective transfers regarding athletic teams, could face a vote in October, making it effective beginning in the 2002-03 school year.

The second one featured by the Times, carried a byline by Joel Hood, and seemed to take a completely different approach with respect to the transfer issue.  Here's an excerpt:

In a move officials hope will ultimately bring an end to the hundreds of costly appeals by would-be high school transfers each year, the CIF State's federated council will meet today in Ontario to debate "liberalizing" the current rules and making it easier for students to transfer out of district.   Although a resolution cannot be voted on until October, the council will discuss eliminating transfers' burden of having to demonstrate hardship before a CIF panel will approve their relocation.  A hardship is vaguely defined by the CIF as an unavoidable event that "causes the imposition of a severe and nonathletic burden" to a student or his or her family. Under the current guidelines, students are eligible to transfer as long as they demonstrate a need to do so before May 15 of the previous school year.  The new rule would allow students to transfer without demonstrating hardship. The students would simply have to fill out the transfer form and be approved by a CIF panel.

While this would certainly increase the number of transfers, it would decrease the number of costly court appeals filed by students who were denied. To limit the number of transfers, the CIF would ultimately have to cap the amount of times a student is allowed to change schools during his or her high school career. But that specific guideline will not be discussed at the meetings today or Saturday.  Any measures approved this weekend or in October would be in place for the 2002-03 school year. 

"What we need is a blend of the old rule and the new rule," said Ganesha High Principal Paul Breit, the CIF Southern Section council president-elect. "What we have now is not working. Students [who are denied transfer] are going around the process and getting eligible to transfer through appeals. They're taking advantage of the system. 

"I support relaxing the rules a little so that students who have been caught up in the system are not left behind and unable to get out of a tough situation. But obviously, there are some concerns with the way the new rules are worded." 

In addition, the State council will examine the eligibility of foreign students. CIF officials have proposed a measure that would force school administrators to certify that no one connected with their athletic department or booster clubs had made contact with prospective foreign transfers about playing on athletic teams.   The measure was spurred in part by incidents this past year at Artesia High of Lakewood, Fresno's Clovis West and Villa Park High, in which foreign athletes were brought to the school by boosters. The athletes were later declared ineligible by CIF. 

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