Let Them Play Monticello Empire League

I have made many phone calls over the past few days to the principals of the schools who voted against extending Group B sports. I have left many messages and received no callbacks. Since I haven't been able to reach or get a callback from anyone in the M.E.L. I decided to call the President of the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section, Michael Garrison. When I called his office I spoke to his secretary about the matter. She said to talk to the principals of the M.E.L. and the commissioner, Joan Mumaugh. I told her that I have been trying to contact them with no success. Basically she told me she couldn't give me any information or answer any questions and that I would have to direct those questions to the principals of the M.E.L. This left me stuck. So my next action was to reach out to an athletic director from the Golden Empire League. I left a message and they actually called me back in a matter of an hour and thirty minutes. He told me their league also had a similar vote to permit teams to start their season earlier than others in their league. In their case, some schools were ready to start playing before others. The principals of the schools in this league all voted in favor of allowing the schools in their league to play as much as they could. The principals of the G.E.L. displayed nobility and selflessness, putting more concern for the needs and wishes of other's rather than only with their own.

The link below will lead you to the leagues season of sport dates for all the leagues in the Sac-Joaquin Section. You will quickly see almost all leagues in the section are allowing the baseball and softball league's to play until around May 20th all the way up into June. The M.E.L., the N.P.A.C., and the T.C.A.L. are the only three league's in the whole Sac-Joaquin Section halting play on April 24th.

CIF Sac-Joaquin Section CIF Sac-Joaquin Section

Thank you all for your responses, actions and support. This page is a positive platform looking for answers as to why the student/athletes that play in the M.E.L. aren’t allowed to get the most out of their opportunity to play high school sports. Today we eclipsed 3,500 views of this page. It just goes to show you the amount of interest there is in the issue and how many people care. I’m sorry some people may feel like they’ve been attacked but all I am looking for is a reasonable explanation as to why someone would take away the opportunity that lies right in front of us. Thank you all again.

So, I know many of you have tried to make contact with the principals of the schools who voted against the extended season. Thank you for your support in trying to get an explanation as to their motives. What are these principals gaining by voting “no”? I can’t wrap my brain around it. I do know what they are taking away and to me it’s just a matter of being selfish. I hope they sleep well at night knowing what they are taking away from our student/athletes.

Good morning. Thank you to everyone for spreading the word and taking action to get some answers. Obviously, our voices are being heard because the people who have voted against these athletes to play a full season are upset. All we are looking for is an explanation of the reasoning for their position. Even the President of the M.E.L. voted “no” to allowing the full season. You would think someone in that position would be leading the way to advocate a vote to go the other way.
Even if I were a principal of one of these schools with all of my athletic programs struggling or failing I would still vote in favor of allowing other thriving programs to keep playing. I would say “We might not be able to continue(for whatever reason), but those of you that can...Go for it!”. Seems pretty selfish to me.

What I have found out in this process of looking for an explanation or reasoning behind why someone would vote against playing the full seasons for Group B sports is that the 6 principals of the M.E.L. schools are the ones who cast the votes. You can read in the March 30th Board of Managers minutes about the discussion and who voted yes or no.

http://www.melsjs.org/meetings.htm

Apparently, the people we need to contact for explanations are the principals of the schools who voted against the extended season for Group B sports.

Adam Rich - Principal at Will C. Wood and President of the M.E.L.
(707)453-6900

Dr. Will Cushman - Principal at Fairfield High School
(707)438-3000

Sheila Smith - Principal at Armijo High School
(707)422-7500

Clarence Isadore - Principal at Rodriguez High School
(707)863-7950

League Meetings and Minutes

Hey M.E.L. athletic community. I have this page to get the word out as to what is really going on regarding our high school sports. As you might be aware, Group B sports have been given only until April 24th to complete their seasons. Group B sports include badminton, baseball, softball, swimming, track & field and volleyball. Other leagues in our area are continuing to play into June. M.E.L. is one of a few leagues in the whole Sac-Juaquin Section not allowing their athletes to restrict the length of the season. We need your support to get the word out that these athletes still want to play and should be able to complete their full schedules.

What can we do? The first thing to do is to share this page with anyone you know with an interest in student athletics. The more people we can get on board the better chance we have to make some waves. Another thing we can do to get this movement rolling is to have everybody contact the Monticello Empire League Commissioner. Her name is Joan Mumaugh. Her email address is [email protected].

What do we tell her? We tell her that we are aware there were votes taken to implement these restrictions on the length of the season but those votes are not representative of the people who are actually playing the sports. The motivation behind anyone who would vote "no" to allowing student/athletes to play a full season of their sport is a whole other issue but right now we need to make those waves and let our voices be heard.