District Board Upholds Dismissal of Coach Despite Show of Support

Despite a show of support from more than 100 students, parents and teachers, the Ventura Unified School District board of trustees voted Tuesday to uphold the dismissal of a popular Buena High School teacher and track coach.

Economics and government teacher Tom King asked the board to overturn Buena High Principal Jaime Castellanos’ dismissal decision, which was based on poor evaluations of his teaching methods at the high school this school year.

The board’s decision to side with Castellanos seemed to leave King devastated. “I’m a dedicated teacher, and I’m a dedicated coach,” he said, pointing to the group of students and teachers who made pleas to the board on his behalf.

King said Castellanos’ written evaluations did not accurately describe his teaching that was praised in other evaluations over the past five years, including the 1990-91 school year at Buena High.

“I still don’t know why this is happening,” he said. King hinted that he will explore the possibility of taking legal action to fight for his job. “I came here to fight, so let’s fight,” King said.

School board officials refused to comment specifically on King’s dismissal, but board President Terence Kilbride said a recently signed California law gave the district wide discretion on firing teachers who have not reached tenure.

King is in his second year teaching at Buena High, more than halfway toward attaining tenure that is awarded after two years on the job. Ventura Unified School District teachers are considered on probation during their first two years.

“The district has the option to release all probationary employees,” Kilbride said. School administrators, he said, are no longer required under law to show that a teacher is ineffective or unsatisfactory before dismissal.

“The school district can give a dismissal notice to someone, even if that teacher is entirely satisfactory,” Kilbride said. The board president’s comments brought shouts of criticism from the partisan crowd that turned out to support King.

The board’s decision came after King supporters waged a public campaign to save the coach who brought Buena High its first county championship in cross-country. Protestors donned black baseball caps bearing the logo “Keep King” during a march on Ventura City Hall earlier Tuesday evening.

After the board announced its decision, a parent presented board members with a petition of more than 190 signatures that asked to rehire the track coach. Other supporters continued to address the board, criticizing the decision.

“Some teachers go above and beyond the call of duty in their efforts to help the students,” Buena High senior Richard Marquez said. “And Mr. King is one of those few teachers to do that. I would like you to reconsider, because I don’t really see any reason to let him go.” Marquez’s appeal drew another round of cheers and clapping from the raucous audience.

“There is no joy in Mudville today, and there won’t be any at Buena High for a long, long, long, long time,” said Steve Blum, a Buena High teacher and girls’ track coach.

“This decision is a travesty.”

Blum, a teachers’ union representative, described himself as a friend of King’s since the two men studied and ran track together at Cal Lutheran College. He said he was instrumental in luring King to Buena High.

Another parent who attended the meeting to speak for King said the district would be hard-pressed to find a better replacement. “You can’t get one better than him,” parent Maureen Halvorsen said. “We just don’t understand what is happening here.”