Westlake Coaches Among Teachers Facing Layoffs

Westlake High football Coach Jim Benkert told his players Wednesday that he is uncertain whether he will return for his third season because of teacher layoffs in the Conejo Valley Unified School District.

Benkert, 33, who led the Warriors to a 13-8-2 record over two seasons, was one of several teachers in the district given notice that that they might not be retained next fall because of a projected budget shortfall.

Gary Grayson, Westlake’s first-year basketball coach, also has been given notice that his contract may not be renewed.

Benkert met with Westlake Principal Curt Luft on Wednesday and asked for a verbal outline of the situation, but Luft offered little reassurance.

“The bottom line is that there are going to be budget cuts and temporary teachers are going to be among the first to go,” said Benkert, who said that he would not return next season in a walk-on capacity. “I can’t live on just a coach’s salary.”

While the layoff notices are part of the early stages of finalizing the district budget, school board President Richard Newman said that it is unrealistic to expect wholesale revisions in the current plan.

Much of the district’s funding comes from the state, which has not finalized the budget for the next fiscal year. And while Newman characterized the district budget as being formulated under “a worst-case scenario,” he did not sound optimistic.

“The superintendent’s office is attempting to make cuts as judiciously as possible across the board,” Newman said. “But sports are going to be affected just like everything else.”

A meeting of the school board is scheduled for tonight at 7:30 at Westlake High. Benkert said that based on the initial response of parents and players, a throng is expected.

“We’re at the beginning of the deliberation stages and we’ll certainly listen to the public,” Newman said. “But we can’t change the economics.”

Benkert was hired as a full-time temporary physical education teacher last fall after serving as a walk-on in 1989, a year in which he was teaching full time at Crespi.

Grayson, another first-year teacher, was hired last fall to teach history.

“Reality is setting in,” Benkert said. “Everybody’s starting to realize that if I don’t have a job, I can’t stay.”

Westlake’s football team finished 8-2-1 in 1990--the second-best won-loss record in school history--and 5-6-1 in 1989. Westlake was 2-8 in 1988, the season before Benkert took over.

The basketball team finished the 1990-91 regular season 6-18.