Charter School Students Can Play for AHS, EHS

The California Interscholastic Federation has approved a plan that allows public charter school students to play on sports teams at Alameda High School and Encinal High School, Alameda Unified School District officials confirmed Wednesday afternoon.

The proposal received was approved by the CIF executive committee on Monday, AUSD Assistant Superintendent Sean McPhetridge said.

The new policy was prompted by advocacy from students at the Alameda Community Learning Center, a charter school housed on the Encinal campus, and their parents. About three years ago AUSD changed a policy that had allowed ACLC students to participate on Encinal teams — leading a group of ACLC baseball players to form their own team. Despite the lack of a home field and nearby competitors in their size classification, the ACLC Hawks reached the NCS playoffs in spring 2012. 

AUSD officials had cited concerns that allowing ACLC students to play would push Encinal High into a more competitive division where its teams would face larger schools, although that turned out not to be the case at present, McPhetridge said.

Families of students at both Encinal and ACLC asked the district in June 2012 to reexamine the policy.

The new policy, or multiple school agreement, applies to all students in appropriate grades who live in Alameda and attend local charter schools or the district-sponsored Alameda Science and Technology Institute (ASTI).

McPhetridge said because ACLC is housed on the Encinal campus, those students will play for EHS teams. Students at other charter schools and ASTI are now eligible to try out for teams at the comprehensive high school they would otherwise attend, based on where they live in Alameda. They must meet the same CIF attendance and academic standards as Alameda High and Encinal High students

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