Prep sports: Parents outraged over South Bay league opting out of CCS playoffs

Nobody spoke up Thursday during the period for public comment at the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League’s Board of Managers meeting, at which members voted unanimously to keep in place their decision to opt out of a spring postseason, yet aggrieved parents flooded administrators’ email inboxes Friday after receiving news of the vote.

The parents say that is because the SCVAL didn’t provide proper notice of the special meeting, which took place over Zoom at 9 a.m. Thursday.

Less than 24 hours beforehand, no agenda had been posted to its website, according to multiple parents, who said they check the site every evening, a possible violation of the Brown Act, a California law that requires public bodies to post advance notice of meetings.

However, commissioner Brad Metheany said he posted the agenda Tuesday evening and clicked on the link himself.

“It’s not like we’re hiding here,” Metheany said. “They know where we are and they’ve been in those meetings. … We’re really trying to do what’s best for these people who we care about. People seem to think we don’t care, and that bothers me.”

More than two dozen parents, multiple athletes and at least one coach emailed administrators in protest of the vote.

Lynley Takaki, the girls basketball coach at Lynbrook High, said in an email that she was “heartbroken and frustrated for not only my athletes, but all athletes that this pertains to” and that coaches should have had a say because “we are the ones directly involved with everything and would best understand whether to honor these players.”

Jim Moore, whose son is a senior on the Los Gatos baseball team, said he found a link to the meeting and the agenda when he checked the league’s website early Thursday morning. He attended the meeting but said he wasn’t prepared to comment because the item at hand on the agenda was not clearly stated, another Brown Act requirement.

At stake was a board vote to affirm its decision to pull out of the Central Coast Section playoffs, but the agenda item stated “Continued tabled discussion on SCVAL established non-participation in season (2) CCS playoffs” and did not mention a vote.

The Brown Act largely demands two things of public bodies, according to First Amendment scholar David Snyder, who spoke with the Bay Area News Group in January, after a separate SCVAL Brown Act complaint. Agendas must be posted at least 72 hours in advance, with some exceptions, and the items on those agendas must clearly describe what is being decided. For special meetings, such as Thursday’s, 24 hours of notice is sufficient, Snyder said.

Don Darby, whose son, Zander, is a senior on the Palo Alto baseball team, called the meeting “intentionally deceitful” and said the agenda was not posted until hours beforehand.

In an email to the board, Darby said they “showed a lack of fairness, transparency, and true concern for your incredibly hard-working athletes in your schools who deserve an opportunity to compete in a postseason like all of their peers in the other CCS leagues.”

Aidan Berger, a senior teammate of Darby’s at Paly, said in another email that he was “incredibly sad and confused” when he heard the news. Baseball players still seeking college attention will miss out on a chance to showcase themselves at CCS, he said.

“Last year was really hard for all the guys. Our season just ended. Everything got canceled,” Berger wrote. “The saddest part is for the second year in a row, our season is just going to suddenly end. At least last year it was for a good reason. We all understood the risks of Covid. But now, things are quickly getting better.”

David Gomez, whose daughter is a senior on the Los Gatos softball team, said he isn’t typically “that parent” but he felt that he needed to speak up this time. He said the CCS had been thoughtful in its process but that he didn’t understand why SCVAL had gone “rogue.”

Among the parents to voice their disagreement with the decision was Greg Meehan, the head coach of the Stanford women’s swim team whose son plays on the junior varsity baseball team at Palo Alto.

Metheany said he and the board have read every email and noted parents were “holding us to task.”

“I think parents have a right to voice their opinion,” Metheany said. “I hope it’s parents voicing their opinions and not being led by someone — that would bother me.”

The decision came down to three primary factors, Metheany said: conflicts between SCVAL and CCS schedules in some sports, potential Title IX issues and the fact that the latest of sports in CCS won’t finish until mid-June, when many administrators have scheduled vacation.

Takaki, the Lynbrook coach, said in the email that her athletic director had offered to stay on through the postseason.

While other schools and districts may choose to not participate, the SCVAL is the only full league to opt out of CCS playoffs. However, schools in the SCVAL aren’t alone in missing out on a postseason in the COVID-altered spring season.

The CCS and Oakland Section were the only sections in Northern California to host their own championships, leaving the California Interscholastic Federation to move forward with only Southern California regionals.

The North Coast Section, which includes about half the schools in the Bay Area, decided in January that it wouldn’t participate in playoffs this spring to give its leagues more flexibility in scheduling.

The SCVAL also finalized its three-season spring calendar in January, before Charles Goldberg, the parent of a Palo Alto baseball player, brought the first Brown Act complaint against the SCVAL. Goldberg said the league had not posted proper notice ahead of a Jan. 21, and the Board of Managers had to revisit the matter to resolve the complaint.

On Friday, Goldberg said in an email to the board that he couldn’t “believe it has come to this.”

“The kids don’t understand,” Goldberg wrote. “You are their teachers, educators, and instructors. They look up to you to teach them about hard work, diligence, and perseverance.”