Board Softens Academic Teams’ Ethnic, Gender Rules

After extensive wrangling at two meetings, the Los Angeles Board of Education on Thursday modified a set of guidelines that call for members of academic decathlon teams to reflect the ethnic and gender makeup of their high schools.

The guidelines state that each team “should reflect” the school’s ethnic and gender composition. An earlier draft created a controversy by its statement that each team “must reflect” a school’s ethnic and gender makeup.

The board also added a set of procedures to ensure that a broad range of students are given the opportunity to participate on the squads and established a rule that prohibits the teams from holding practices at personal residences.

Transportation Problems

In the past some coaches have held practices at their homes. Some board members believe this prevented students who travel long distances to school by bus from joining the teams.

The board, acting as the Educational Development Committee, adopted the regulations by a 6-0 vote.

“I’m very happy with the guidelines, “ said Paul Possemato, director of the senior high division. Possemato helped spark the controversy with an admonishment to academic decathlon coaches that teams that did not pass a visual review on competition day would not be permitted to compete.

“The board’s action reaffirms the position that the teams should reflect the composition of the schools. We’re not dealing with percentages or quotas. With the addition of these guidelines we can be more specific in making sure principals are aggressive and diligent in their efforts to have a representative team,” Possemato said.

Minority Enrollments

An unexpected outgrowth of the districtwide academic competition was complaints that teams from the Westside and the west San Fernando Valley do not accurately reflect that most of their campuses have minority enrollments of around 40%.

“Unless we are going to say women aren’t as bright as men, that blacks, Hispanics and Asians aren’t as bright as Anglos, then the problem must be in the recruitment of students,” board member Rita Walters said.

The adopted guidelines are only for the 1985 competition. Board members said they are still dissatisfied with recruitment procedures, practice time schedules and the fact that some schools have academic decathlon classes while others do not. The board plans later this summer to establish regulations in these areas for the 1986 competition.