In light of the Central Coast Section (CCS) ruling issued last Thursday that forced the girls’ varsity lacrosse team to vacate six Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL) wins this season, members of the Paly administration held a meeting Monday in the English Resource Center (ERC) in an attempt to answer any questions players and or their parents might have about the matter.

The meeting commenced slightly after 4 p.m. and lasted about an hour.  Before he opened the room, which was filled with approximately 20 parents and eight players, up to questions, Principal Phil Winston gave a short introduction during which he summarized what he and the administration currently know regarding the situation.

It was confirmed by Winston and Athletic Director Earl Hansen that the aforementioned CCS infraction surrounded the transfer of a current Paly player from another school. However, not much more detail was provided.

“We do not know who made the accusations and that’s where we are at this point,” Winston said.

Winston and Assistant Principal Kathie Laurence also dispelled any rumors that the administration was dealing with the situation clandestinely.

“I just want you to know that there was no secrecy at all [on our part],” Winston said. ” We have been working as fast as we can to be transparent.”

“There was absolutely no cover-up whatsoever,” Laurence added.

After about 20 minutes, the topic of the conversation shifted from a clarification of the situation at hand to a discussion of how to mitigate similar problems in the future.

Laurence detailed her plan to increase redundancy in the system to ensure that players that transfer to Paly, as well as their parents, are well aware of the necessary paperwork they need to fill out.

“I’m working on a form with the Guidance office that would require incoming students to indicate if they are interested in playing sports at Paly so we can get them the paperwork needed [to be eligible],” Laurence said. “We are also planning on going through Teacher Advisors and re-training coaches so that there are more places to make sure we have this checked so that this doesn’t happen again.”

Some parents, including Peter Biffar, who attended the meeting with his daughter Charlotte, echoed Laurence’s sentiments, accentuating the importance of redressing the process for the future.

“No one can change the past,” he said.  “But we can change the future.”