As a I recall, current SMUHSD Trustee Linda Lees Dwyer and two former superintendents advocated for the change back to what had existed for generations in the PAL. They had support from other trustees and sent that notion down the line to their principals. Administrators prefer the North/South setup because their presence can be concentrated at one venue on Fridays. Plus, there is the revenue question (and traditional rivalries). I'm not sure whether the present league arrangement generates more money than the equity alignments. Terry Stogner, the PAL commish, would have the numbers on that. Again, one of the primary advocates for the original change to power leagues more than a decade ago was Half Moon Bay's Rich Forslund. He was persuasive in convincing his peers, some of them quite reluctant, that competitive equity was the way to go. He (and some others) got their wish but it was not satisfactory. Half Moon Bay exists as the sole secondary school in the Cabrillo Unified School District so intra-district rivalries don't exist. As for the presence of SMUHSD trustees/administrators at ballgames, I did see Supt. Kevin Skelly at the Capuchino vs. Burlingame girls' game. He happens to be a basketball fan (and former player). He gets out to ballgames when he can. Asst. Supt. Kirk Black has swung by the occasional Aragon game. I have not seen any of the trustees so far this season. That doesn't mean none has attended. I just haven't seen them. For folks who have observed, and been part of, the PAL for decades, the traditional rivalries have meaning. Students seem to enjoy them as well. The SMUHSD has mandated that those games be maintained in football even with the equity setup in place. That didn't work with basketball. To support your points, other large CCS hoops leagues have gone to the equity system and stayed with it. For the PAL, the issue may well come up again. But I would speculate that there would be a lot of resistance to doing away with the present alignment. One more point in your favor, by the way: The PAL maintains power setups in other sports besides football; baseball, soccer, tennis, volleyball, softball, swimming all come to mind. But attendance, revenue and administrative presence aren't issues in those sports. Still, that fact does buttress your point of view in some important ways. Keep the faith. And be sure to swing by Mills on Feb. 13, the last evening of the PAL regular season, for that interesting meeting with Sequoia.
