Communications between the Superintendent and the Board is critical in order to avoid public displays like the one below.

Board OKs tech center, with concerns

By Jackie Burrell CONTRA COSTA TIMES

Mt. Diablo's school board, a normally civil body of five, erupted into acrimony Tuesday evening over plans to create tech centers for vocational students at the district's high schools.

The dispute eventually led Superintendent Gary McHenry to ask the board if it had confidence in his leadership.

At issue is $8.9 million in capital funding from 2002's Measure C, targeted for middle and high school vocational technology centers. But trustees also are troubled by differing interpretations of a technological vision that was never spelled out in the first place.

Program organizers gave only a vague picture Tuesday of their plan for Ygnacio Valley High School's new arts and communications technology center -- even though students already have signed up. Six classes, including computer animation and television and video production, are to begin late next month.

The action plan offered no specifics on curriculum nor on the creation of "an environment where all students will be prepared to progress naturally into the vocation or college of their choice."

"This is a poison pill, not at the eleventh hour, but the twelfth hour," said trustee William Leal, who abstained from voting.

The organizers were asking the board to let them buy materials they need to start the program. The request to buy $126,000 worth of video production, animation, robotics and other equipment squeaked through after 90 minutes of debate.

A 14-member faculty committee has worked on the Ygnacio Valley plan for 18 months. But the specifics appear to have been slow getting to the board level.

Leal blamed the lag first on the superintendent and then on the board, which should have demanded information earlier, he said. Trustees Linda Mayo and Richard Allen confessed reservations but said they felt that halting the project now would hurt students.

Trustee Gary Eberhart, who cast the lone vote against funding the program, had no such compunctions.

"I'm not going to be boxed into a corner," he said. "This is an issue near and dear to my heart, but if I don't know what it is (we're voting on), I'm not going to support it."

The tech centers landed on the district's list of priorities for Measure C money because Eberhart forced fellow trustees to include them in the ballot language, Eberhart said Wednesday. He told his colleagues he would not support the school bond without a tech center component.

"Shame on me for using that tactic, but sometimes it's imperative to make it happen," he said. "I'm looking to strengthen career skills programs that also offer academic rigor."

Trustees and leaders of the district's Career Academic Integration program -- the vocational education program -- have different visions for the tech center.

Leal worries about the future labor market and wants the tech centers to emphasize basic vocational training. Board president April Treece said most future jobs have not been invented so the district must provide "a rigorous and relevant education." And Eberhart wants a hands-on, experiential program that bridges the technological and vocational worlds.

"We need to take one step back, then move forward as a collective," Eberhart said. "A committee without a mission is a waste of time."

HOW THEY VOTED

Approved $126,000 to outfit the Ygnacio Valley High School arts and communication technology center.

Yes: Treece, Mayo, Allen

No: Eberhart

Abstain: Leal

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Last modified: July 1, 2004

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