Paly English teacher Mike McNulty has written to Nancy Blaser, the CIF/Central Coast Section Commissioner, complaining about the scheduling of the CCS water polo championships. The letter is as follows:

Nancy Lazenby Blaser, Commissioner

San Jose, CA 95112

Dear Commissioner:

I am an English teacher at Palo Alto High School, and an avid supporter and fan of high school sports. Although I rarely complain, the recent CCS Water Polo Championships are the basic catalyst for this letter.

My sole reason for writing is the scheduled time for the girls’ semi-final matches. I have three members of the Palo Alto High Girls team in my classes. They are all wonderful individuals and perfect examples of the term student-athelete. At Paly, water polo as a sport is both popular and successful. It would have been nice for the parents and siblings of team members to see these girls compete against St. Francis (Tuesday, November 16). It would have been nice for the student body to have the chance to see the girls compete against St. Francis. Unfortunately, your organization scheduled the match for 2:00 p.m., eliminating those possibilities for the vast majority of those groups. Parents were in attendance, but certainly no siblings and no more than 10 students. Why? Because most had classes until 3:00 p.m. Since the seating area was only half full for that particular match, it’s obvious that space was not an issue. I’m not concerned with the venue, officials, seating comfort, tempertaure, parking, or CCS tee shirt design. But I am upset that so little thought went into the scheduling of a prestigious event. I realize water polo doesn’t experience the same attendance numbers as some of the other sports, but if the mission of your organization is to promote athletics and academics in the same vein, a 2:00 p.m. starting time seems absurd.

I was one of the few from our school with a teaching schedule conducive to the starting time. It’s a shame others didn’t have that same opportunity. Perhaps more thought can be given to these matters in the future. The participants deserve nothing less.

Thank you for your attention. I look forward to your thoughts concerning future schedules. I am hopeful these misfortunes can be avoided in the future.

Sincerely,

R. Michael McNulty

English Department

Palo Alto High School