When is an open house a legal open house?

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

After Santa Margarita got into trouble from the Southern Section for holding a football-oriented open house that included youth players, other schools have raised questions what kind of an open house is permitted because private schools have routinely invited pre-registered incoming freshmen on campus for athletic meetings before they graduated from middle school.

Encino Crespi had advertised an open house on its website for next week inviting incoming freshmen from a variety sports, which may have been a rules violation.

Thom Simmons, the Southern Section spokesman, said in an e-mail that you can have an open house, but only ‘as long as it is truly open, meaning there has to be an academic component to it and all are invited. You can have your athletic director only discuss athletics outside of that forum. You can never have any athletics specific night of any type where all of your coaches are there to discuss athletics and athletics only.’

-- Eric Sondheimer