LAUSD Pays Way for 5 Officials at Decathlon

Question: How many Los Angeles school administrators does it take to cheer on El Camino Real High School at the national academic decathlon this year?

Answer: Five, all of whom flew cross-country and are staying in a hotel at district expense.

Question: How many of the nearly dozen El Camino teachers who have helped prep the team since last fall earned a free trip to Providence?

Answer: Zero.

As the decathlon got underway Friday, some in the California delegation groused uneasily. Although they praised most of the administrators for supporting the decathlon team, the teachers wondered why they, too, were not part of the subsidized travel plans.

“Why do the administrators get free rides?” asked English teacher Sharon Markenson, one of seven El Camino instructors who paid their own way to Providence.

Markenson, a former El Camino decathlon coach who helped team members sharpen their essay skills this year, spent $634 on a plane ticket and is using four of her 10 sick days for the trip.

El Camino parents who made the trip to Providence at their own expense expressed outrage. Among the critics were members of the Beatty family--mother and father, two teenagers and a set of grandparents--who all made the trip.

“It’s always amazing what perks you get in administration, whether it’s a school district or a company,” said Susan Beatty, whose son Mike is on the team. “Five administrators seems excessive to me. It would have been nice to split the money between the teachers.”

LAUSD Assistant Supt. Dan Isaacs, one of the administrators who made the trip east, acknowledged that the system appears unfair. But he said no one has ever brought the matter to his attention.

“One might frame an inequity there,” said Isaacs, whose office oversees the district’s decathlon program. “If teachers played a major role in assisting the coach, that’s something we can look at.”

For the third year in a row, El Camino is representing California in the national contest, facing 37 other schools from around the country.

Multiple-choice tests and essay writing on Friday opened the two-day event, which closes Sunday with an awards ceremony and brunch. More than 40 relatives and members of the school district have accompanied El Camino’s eight decathlon team members--Steve Chae, Adi Zarchi, Nancy Fu, Carina Yuen, Michael Beatty, Bruce Ngo, Taimur Baig and Elana Pelman.

The administrators on the trip include Isaacs, Cluster Administrator Joe Luskin, LAUSD decathlon coordinator Jane Pollock, El Camino Principal Ron Bauer and Assistant Principal Penny Gwin. Some brought along spouses at their own expense.

Pollock said the final tab for the Providence trip was not yet available. But the bill at the Westin Hotel, where the five were staying for $99 a night per room, was expected to exceed $2,000, according to the hotel. The cost will be covered by a district discretionary account funded by private donations, Pollock said.

The school district has traditionally covered the expenses of administrators affiliated with decathlon teams, according to Isaacs. The state’s decathlon program pays for the team and its coaches; this year’s bill for Providence will surpass $5,000, said Judy Combs, the state decathlon director.

The administrative contingent from the Los Angeles school district was far larger than those from other states whose teams are considered favorites.

Texas’ James E. Taylor High School, the defending national champion, brought only the school principal and his wife, who paid their own expenses. The team from Illinois had just two administrators. The team from Arizona didn’t bring any.

“Having the administrators here is not significant,” said Arizona’s coach Heather Baxter. “They don’t interact with the kids, they’re just figureheads.”

Three of the L.A. Unified administrators in Providence said Friday that their presence served the dual purposes of displaying school district support for the Conquistadores and ensuring that logistics--from hotel rooms to bus rides--went off without a hitch.

“We’re saying these youngsters are important to us,” Gwin said. “No one’s getting a free ride. Everybody is here to support the program.”

Gwin said her expenses were covered this year because she is the administrator in charge of the decathlon program at El Camino. She said she paid her own way two years ago when the team competed in Atlanta, before she oversaw the program.

“The kids need to come with a protective bubble of faces they know so they can do the difficult job they have,” she said. “They shouldn’t have to worry about where their luggage is or where their meals are coming from.”

After briefly visiting the team in the morning at the Providence Convention Center, Gwin said she was going sightseeing. Also absent from Friday’s events were Luskin, who was reportedly en route, and Isaacs, who said he was recovering from a cold and spent the day resting in his hotel room.

Still, Gwin and Bauer drew praise from decathlon coaches Mark Johnson and Dave Roberson, who said the school’s administrators have offered consistent help over the years.

“The school has supported the program as good as any in the nation,” Johnson said.

Apparently unaffected by the tiff were the decathletes themselves, who emerged from their tests Friday uncertain of how well they had performed but intent on placing high.

“A lot of the questions were difficult, wordy and vague,” senior Adi Zarchi said moments after he finished one multiple-choice test. “I didn’t like my essay.”

But coach Roberson pronounced the day a success.

“We’re doing good, real good,” he told the team midway through the day. “Let’s go get ‘em.”

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Times staff writer Brett Johnson contributed to this report.