City Basketball Teams Face Earlier Start for 1991-92

A school calendar scheduled to be implemented in July throughout the Los Angeles Unified School District might force City Section league basketball seasons in 1991-92 and beyond to be completed before an eight-week recess for most schools begins in mid-December.

“The reality is that we must reschedule basketball season,” City Section Commissioner Hal Harkness said.

The impact of the new calendar on winter sports would be severe, Harkness told City basketball and soccer coaches this week.

Under a proposal, the basketball season would begin the first week of November--three weeks earlier than usual--and playoffs would be held the first two weeks in January even though a majority of the City’s 49 high schools would be closed.

Because the basketball season would begin during the fall, teams would be ineligible for the state basketball playoffs, which begin in March.

Other problems with the new schedule are apparent, according to Dick Browning, a district administrator and member of a committee that studied the effect on athletics of the new school calendar.

“Facilities problems are major,” Browning said. “Soccer and football, which use the same fields, would overlap. So would basketball, wrestling and volleyball, which all use gymnasiums.

“There are no obvious answers. Things are real complicated. We are seeking input from coaches or anyone who has some ideas.”