FILLMORE : Agriculture Teacher Resigns, Will Move

Fillmore High School has lost two agriculture instructors in two months with the resignation of the department’s only tenured teacher.

Marilee Belloumini, 34, who has worked in the school’s agriculture department for 12 years, resigned last week, a school official said. Belloumini plans to move to Northern California, Assistant Supt. Bob Kernen said.

Belloumini’s resignation followed a furor raised over the departure of fellow agriculture instructor Dick Piersma, 30, who agreed to resign in March after Fillmore Unified School District officials told him that his contract would not be renewed for a third year.

Belloumini was out of town Monday, and Piersma has declined to comment.

More than 60 people packed a school board meeting last month, many to protest Piersma’s departure.

Parents and students who considered Piersma an asset to the program said they are worried that the agriculture and Future Farmers of America programs may be in jeopardy because of the number of teachers who have left. Piersma’s predecessor left for a job in another county after one year.

“This problem has been festering for several years, and the administration has done nothing,” said Conway Spitler, head of the Fillmore High School Alumni Assn. and member of a recently formed committee to support Piersma.

Committee member Glen Corona produced a list of concerns about the programs signed by about 30 parents in July, 1990, before Piersma began work in the district. The parents said poor advice had been given to students about their project animals, equipment was poorly maintained and the program adviser was not available when needed.

Kernen, member of an advisory committee that oversees the agriculture program, acknowledged problems with the programs but said they were not being ignored. “There have been complaints about things that needed to be done at the school farm but none that could be laid at anyone’s feet in particular,” he said. “In some cases, there have been limitations of time and money.”

Board member Joanne R. King has said board members support the agriculture program and it is in no danger.

However, Kernen said only one teacher will be hired to replace Belloumini and Piersma. “We don’t really have enough classes to justify two instructors,” he said.