California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Information

Northern Region

Southern Region

State

What is the CIF?

The CIF is a grass roots organization made up of schools, leagues and the Federated Council. The CIF is a bottom up organization and its functions are designed to ensure that new rules only come into being after having been examined and voted upon by CIF representatives throughout the state of California.

Each CIF member school is assigned to a local league. The school is represented at the league level by the person designated by the governing board to do so.

At the league level, the designees enact a league constitution and bylaws, elect league officers and select from among themselves a league representative to the section governing board.

The section governing board is usually referred to as the Board of Managers, but there are some section governing boards which have a different name.

The section governing boards, in turn, enact their own constitutions and bylaws, their own officers, and establish section policies and rules which, along with league policies and rules, may be stricter than but may not conflict with, CIF rules.

Section governing boards select from their membership their representatives to the CIF.

Source: State CIF

Northern California Region

# 1. Northern Section

Established in 1914 (charter member)

Commissioner Elizabeth Kyle

P.O. Box 9330

13301 Baker Road

Red Bluff, CA 96080

530.528.9300

# 2. North Coast Section

Established in 1914 (charter member)

Commissioner Gilbert Lemmon

12925 Alcosta Boulevard, Suite 8

San Ramon, CA 94583-1341

925.866.8400

# 3. Sac-Joaquin Section

Established in 1942 (broke from Northern)

Commissioner Pete Saco

1368 East Turner Road, Suite A

Lodi, CA 95240-8820

209.334.5900

# 4. San Francisco Section

Established in 1945 (was Academic Athletic Assoc.)

Commissioner Don Collins

555 Portola Drive, Room 250

San Francisco, CA 94131-1616

415.920.5185

# 5. Oakland Section

Established in 1940 (broke from North Coast)

Commissioner Michael Moore

900 High Street

Oakland, CA 94606

510.879.8311

# 6. Central Coast Section

Established in 1964 (broke from North Coast)

Commissioner Nancy Lazenby Blaser

6830 Via Del Oro, Suite 103

San Jose, CA 95119

408.224.2994

Southern California Region

# 7. Central Section

Established in 1914 (charter member)

Commissioner Jim Crichlow

P.O. Box 1567

Porterville, CA 93258

559.781.7586

# 8. Los Angeles City Section

Established in 1935 (broke from Southern)

Commissioner Barbara Fiege

P.O. Box 3307

Los Angeles, CA 90051

1545 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 200

Los Angeles, CA 90017

213.207.2200

# 9. Southern Section

Established in 1914 (charter member)

Commissioner James Staunton

10932 Pine Street

Los Alamitos, CA 90720-2428

562.493.9500

# 10. San Diego Section

Established in 1960 (broke from Southern)

Commissioner Dennis Ackerman

6401 Linda Vista Road, Room 504

San Diego, CA 92111-7319

858.292.8165

How State Rules Are Put Into Place

Schools, leagues and sections--over 1,000 educators & designees--approve state rules before they are enacted by the Federated Council.

Here's how it works....

1. a rule change or addition is proposed at a Federated Council meeting as a first reading

2. rule change is then referred to sections which, in turn, refer it to their leagues for review and vote

3. leagues vote on the proposal and instruct their representatives to the Federated Council how to vote

4. league representatives meet as a section and instruct their representatives to the how to vote

5. matter is agendized for the next Federated Council meeting and is voted upon by the section representatives

Handling the matter from the bottom up, as described above, ensures the broadest possible participation by the educators and designee's of the governing boards throughout the state. Every school principal/designee knows of prospective actions by the CIF. The system is designed to permit the superintendents to agendize CIF matters for their Superintendent Cabinet meetings and to use the information imparted there to keep the boards informed of ongoing CIF issues.

Source: State CIF