Anxiety among Kern High School District employees is almost palpable.

Potentially draconian state budget cuts are coming, and some employees are worried that what they see as a “rogue” Board of Trustees is on the verge of its own draconian measures, including firing administrators who don’t toe the line and imposing vague but job-threatening goals on principals.

The level of distrust has reached a fever pitch.

That needs fixing and fast so the district can make reasoned budget adjustments and, hopefully, move forward on innovative reforms that address real issues like say the district’s 20-plus percent drop out rate.

I’m not going waste time assigning blame for the teacher/trustee rift, but I do think it’s important to understand how wide the chasm has become so all parties know how much effort they need to bring to the bridge-building party.

An email circulating among teachers outlines a slew of new requirements allegedly handed down by trustees, including that principals complete a form every year showing they visited all classrooms otherwise their jobs are on the line. I’ve also heard that teachers believe Superintendent Don Carter was told by trustees to raise the district’s test scores “or else!”

Whoa, deep breath people — it’s not true, according to Carter.

During a brainstorming session among principals, one of their own rank came up with the idea of classroom visits. And Carter said no board member has approached him with a rubber hose over test scores.

For a guy who typically chooses his words carefully, Carter was pretty blunt: “It’s unfair to characterize this board as having given ultimatums to the administrative leadership.”

OK then!

Much of the suspicion on the part of faculty and the Kern High School Teachers Association (which did not write nor circulate that e-mail), has built up because of Chad Vegas’ and Ken Mettler’s religious/cultural agenda and a short-lived, never-used program advanced by Vegas that allowed trustees to sit in on job interviews with the superintendent, which many felt was an unwarranted attack on Carter.

Of greatest concern now, however, is a list of reforms that have been championed by

Trustee Joel Heinrichs, who put out a sort of “policy paper” on them in October along with Vegas as a co-signer.

“That paper uses a lot of buzzwords, but we don’t really know what’s being considered,” Mitch Olson, president of the Kern Teacher’s Association told me.

Of greatest concern, he said, is that the board will shoot from the hip without talking to teachers, parents, administrators and the community to make sure the reforms are well thought out, understood and don’t overlap or scrap other reforms already under  way.

Education is a tricky business, as is any endeavor involving humans and their inevitable baggage. Success can elude even those who’ve spent a lifetime researching the intricacies of the process.

How do a software company exec and a preacher think they can do better?

By copy catting.

I met with Heinrichs about the reforms and the angst they’ve created. He handed me an inch-thick stack of studies, case histories, power points and more. The ideas Heinrichs is interested in — smaller learning environments, clear district wide goals, more authority at the school level, more career options and proper training — aren’t new. He’s cherry-picking the best stuff out there.

“These aren’t willy-nilly ideas,” he said in his trademark rapid-fire manner. “I’ve spent two years asking questions and studying these issues. It’s not a wild hair.”

Heinrichs wants to talk with teachers and others, he wants to keep what the district is doing well and he has no intention of evaluating teachers or principals based on one set of test scores, another fear lingering out there.

When I told Olson what Heinrichs had shared with me, his suspicions thawed. He’s read the same research.

“If that’s what’s informing his ideas, then yes, we’d be very comfortable talking about that,” Olson said. “It’s a good starting point.”

Hey, I’m a peacemaker — who knew? Next up: That pesky Palestinian/Israeli squabble.

These are Lois Henry’s opinions, not necessarily The Californian’s. Her column appears Sunday and Wednesday. Call her at 395-7373 or write lhenry@bakersfield.com.

Policy paper put out by Kern High School District trustees Joel Heinrichs and Chad Vegas in October.

A Call for Educational Reform

Preamble
The Kern High School District has a long and proud history. Our top students perform successfully at elite universities all over the country. We have a number of well-regarded career academies and an outstanding Regional Occupational Center. We are moving forward with initiatives to expand Career Technical Education and academic “boot camps” for ninth-grade students at risk of dropping out.

Our schools have also made steady progress in raising standardized-test scores over the last ten years. Our high school exit exam passage rates, A-G completion rates, and SAT scores are comparable to similar schools in the southern San Joaquin Valley. Yet, our APR scores (STAR tests) consistently lag behind these schools. As a Board of Trustees, we can make excuses — ore we can commit to a bold plan of action to make our “commitment to excellence” real.

Philosophy
Our 35,000+ students’ skills, abilities, and interests are diverse. Therefore, we must provide a wide range of high quality, rigorous, learning opportunities to maximize each student’s chance for success. We are committed to: 1) articulating a clear, district-wide strategy, 2) building strong Principal-level leadership and strategic commitment, and 3) holding ourselves accountable.

Plan
In the near term, we should continue those practices producing incremental progress — but believe a more competitive, free-market-oriented strategic approach will be essential to accelerate and drive sustained, long-term success. Elements of this approach include:

1) Overhaul the district’s outmoded “one-size-fits-all” educational model that presumes a comprehensive high school college preparatory education is “best” for all students and treats other pathways to success as lesser alternatives. Instead, we should offer a range of learning models and encourage students to pursue whatever pathway that is best for them — whether that is work, more career training, or college upon graduation.

2) Expand academic options to include small charter schools, on-line learning, more “school within a school” academies, and home-school partnerships so that we have a wider range of educational models to attract, retain, and engage students.

3) Build competition into the school system — so that effective ideas, programs and learning models expand — and ineffective ones are eliminated.

4) Seek out and implement the best research-based practices for students whose English is a second language. This group of students consistently struggles to meet academic standards.

5) Secure the best possible Principal-level leadership, create measurable performance standards, reward those who excel, and remove those who perform poorly.

Pledge
We are committed, to building upon our successes — but also pushing ourselves beyond the safe and traditional. Our students, parents, and the community members deserve our very best effort.