The realignment plan approved by the NJSIAA executive committee this week will impact on all schools in the Jersey Sports Now area.  In Passaic County, most local teams will find themselves in a strange position for at least one year.  Here's a look at how Passaic County schools will be affected:

DEPAUL, LAKELAND, PASSAIC VALLEY, WAYNE VALLEY, WEST MILFORD:

These five schools, along with Passaic Tech, will be the only remaining members of the Northern Hills Conference next year.  The other 12 schools are being reassigned to new "super conferences" beginning in September 2009.  But the NJSIAA allowed Bergen and Passaic Counties to delay implementation of their new sports conferences until 2010.

This means that the six remaining NHC schools are effectively orphaned for one year.  They will likely band together, but would find scheduling non-league games a huge challenge, especially in sports with limited schedule flexibility like football.  As a result, the schools may try to join one of the North Jersey super conferences for a year.  But with those leagues scrambling to put together their own schedules for 2009-10, they may well be reluctant to bring in the NHC schools and add extra work.

In the long run, the five schools listed above are slated to be placed together in a division of the new Super Conference 2 along with Wayne Hills.  That division would presumably open for business in September 2010.

While many are excited about having three Wayne schools together for the first time, others don't like the plan.  Officials at Lakeland are especially concerned, as that will be the smallest school in the sports division, and prospects for compatible cross-over games in the conference also appear limited.

POMPTON LAKES:

The delay granted by the NJSIAA means the Cardinals will remain members of the Bergen-Passaic Scholastic League until the spring of 2010.  What happens after that is anyone's guess.

The plan approved by the NJSIAA would keep Pompton Lakes in a division of the new Super Conference 3 with most of its current BPSL brethren.  However, the plan adds one small private school, while moving two BPSL schools--Glen Rock and Garfield--to other divisions.  That prospect angered league member schools enough to threaten that they would all go independent rather than join the new super conference.  With the approval of the realignment along with the one-year reprieve, the BPSL schools will have a little time to consider their options. -- Paul Mencher for Jersey Sports Now