Teachers Find a Rewarding Niche at Fair

Kids running amok, screaming as their Fudgsicles melt into their shirts, lost crowds in search of direction and schedules to be made.

What does it take to find order out of chaos at the Del Mar Fair?

Why, teachers, of course.

“The whole job is very similar to what I do at my regular job in high school,” said David La Borde, athletic director at San Dieguito High School during most of the year and in charge of the grandstand during the fair. “It’s just older kids we’re dealing with here.

“I use the same types of people skills that I would use at my job at school. The two are quite closely related,” said La Borde, who has worked the fair on and off for the last 15 years.

Good timing makes the fair a popular job for many who need to supplement their income during the summer.

“For us to be able to get out of the inside of a classroom to this environment is a good change for us,” said Richard Cali, a fourth-grade teacher at San Marcos Elementary School who supervises the admissions gates after the school year ends.

“It just started out as a lark, and, after the first year, it was fun and we came back to it,” said Cali, who has worked the fair for six years.

More than 60 of the fair’s 1,100 employees are teachers in San Diego County.

“It’s just like going back to school, almost, there are so many teachers here,” said Ryan Bruington, 17, a senior at San Dieguito High School who works at the fair’s Technology Education exhibit.

Bruington’s father, Neil, runs the international photography and photo-journalism exhibits and teaches graphic communications at Palomar College.

“I’ve just about been raised on the fair. My dad has worked here forever,” said the younger Bruington, of his father, who has worked the fair for 16 years.

Neil Bruington sees his role at the fair as a natural extension of his teaching. Not only is the fair a place where people can show off their livestock, but also their graphic arts.

“The fair comes at the right time of the year for everyone to be finished with what they are working on and can bring it here,” said Bruington.

“For some, this is a rarity as far as recognition and positive reinforcement,” said Bruington, who has seen some of his own students’ works appear at the exhibit.

But, on the practical side of it is the money. Teachers generally get paid for 10 or 11 months out of the year, and the fair helps to make up the difference, paying from $2,300 to $5,500 for the run of the fair.

“If you can come to the fair and work really hard for 20 straight days, we can make it through the last month,” said Dan Field, who works 11 hours a day, every day at the fair’s admissions gate directing crowds and his crew.

Field, who coaches wrestling at San Dieguito High School, has a tight schedule between the end of school and the beginning of the fair.

“I get out of school on Thursday, and I start here Friday morning at 6:30,” Field said.

And, after closing up a school year and working 20 consecutive 12-hour days, it’s time for summer vacation.