SALINAS – The return of girls to the Palma School campus for the first time in 60 years will include a full slate of sports this fall.
The decision to return Palma to a co-ed campus had become a topic of conversation over the past few years, as families had expressed an interest in a co-ed environment.
"Palma is incredibly happy to have young women back on campus," Palma President Chris Dalman said. "We're going back to our roots. We're excited about forging a new Palma for decades to come."
The south Salinas campus was co-ed from 1951 to 1964 before the all-girls school Notre Dame opened its doors a block away.
While talks of a merger between the two schools had been rumored, nothing came to fruition between the Christian Brothers Institute of California, which owns and runs Palma, and the Diocese of Monterey Parish and School Operating Corporation, which owns and operates Notre Dame.
Notre Dame had an enrollment of a little over 220 students this past school year. Palma has a little over 450 students.
More than 100 girls have enrolled at Palma for the 2024-25 school year, including 54 incoming freshmen, with the remaining number being transfers from schools throughout the county.
"Our enrollment will be up," Dalman said. "In fact, we're at capacity to where we wanted to be. We are excited about that."
A 1988 Palma graduate, who spent eight years playing pro football for the San Francisco 49ers, Dalman understands as the number of girls enrolled grows, it will cut into the number of boys the school will admit.
Palma will continue to have an all-boys middle school on campus – grades sixth-eighth – which amounts to more than 150 boys.
"There is a uniqueness to Palma that our middle school is all boys," Dalman said. "So, in the totality of our numbers, it will be hard to find a 50-50 mix. It will take a few years to reach that parity in high school."
Yet, at some point in the next three to four years, that balance will reduce the number of boys at Palma, which will mean sports will have fewer athletes to choose from.
"We could run into trouble if people specialized in one sport," Dalman said. "That's not the case at Palma. We have a lot of multi-sport athletes. It's a culture that has been pushed here among all our coaches."
Currently, the freshman football team is expected to have a roster somewhere in the neighborhood of 55 to 60 players.
"That's a class that has 50 girls as well," Dalman said. "We feel that's a good number. I think we will be fine. I don't see us having problems in boys' sports in the future."
Ideas about expanding Palma's facilities or perhaps adding another campus to accommodate increased enrollment isn't a topic of conversation at this time.
"I can't even talk about that at this point," Dalman said. "We can have those conversations down the road. We're taking baby steps here."
Despite a reduced enrollment, with several of its student-athletes transferring to Palma for this fall, Notre Dame will continue as an all-girls school that will offer sports based on interest.
Notre Dame, which recently hired a new principal, does not currently have an athletic director.
The girls who have transferred from Notre Dame to Palma for this coming fall, if they played varsity sports last year they will be required to follow the California Interscholastic Federation guidelines and sit out six weeks.
"We fall under the CIF rules and regulations for all transfer students for the state of California," Dalman said. "There is a six-week sit-out period. It's what the rules dictate."
The rule remains in effect, even if Notre Dame does not have that particular sport this coming year for those who transferred.
"That's because the sport was still being offered while those kids were at Notre Dame," Pacific Coast Athletic League Commissioner Tim McCarthy said.
Dalman has made sure to share with families of all incoming female athletes who are transferring in from other high schools and played a varsity sport that there will be a period they will have to sit out.
"We've been open and transparent with families," Dalman said. "They understand academics come before sports. We understand how important sports are to an athlete. We appreciate the young women willing to make that sacrifice to be at our school. I have a lot of respect for them."
The potential concern this year, however, could be filling out a full team if half of the incoming girls are ineligible for the first six weeks of that particular sports calendar year.
Palma will be in the Mission Division — which is the second most competitive division of the league's divisions – for volleyball this fall. It's expected to field girls' golf, cross-country, tennis and flag football in the fall. It won't have field hockey or water polo this year.
"I didn't have enough transfers coming in that have played those sports," Palma Athletic Director Rob Bishop said. "The plan is we will participate in any sport that we have interest in."
The likelihood is Palma will be fielding all freshman rosters for its varsity sports for the first part of the season. School officials hope to have a varsity and junior varsity program by league play.
Bishop envisions Palma having all the girls' sports that the Central Coast Section offers in the future, as the number of girls will grow as each new class arrives.
"Once we're not getting hammered by the transfer rule with girls coming in, we will have those sports," Bishop said. "I can only offer sports right now where freshmen can carry the water until the kids get through the sit-out period."
Palma has 16 freshmen girls already signed up for volleyball, along with 10 potential transfers. It's still searching for a coach.
"A majority of the girls coming in went to Notre Dame last year," Bishop said. "They were in the middle of the pack in the Gabilan (division, the most competitive in the league) last year. With our situation, I felt we belonged in the Mission."
The six-week sit-out period will likely take Palma into its fourth or fifth league match in volleyball.
While the sit-out rule will be applied in tennis and golf as well, it won't be in cross-country for students transferring in from Notre Dame, since it has not fielded a program in two years.
Bishop is expecting a significant turnout for flag football, which will be divided into two leagues in the PCAL – with schools slotted into divisions based on whether they can field two teams.
Because flag football debuted last year in the CIF – and there was no league play or playoffs in the CCS, the eligibility rule does not apply.
"We expect good numbers for flag football because there isn't a sit-out period," said Bishop. "I think we will get some kids from other sports."
