Contract Is Ratified; Coaches’ Departure Feared : Huntington Beach Plan Designed to Prevent Layoffs of Tenured Teachers

Athletic administrators in the Huntington Beach Union High School District say the new contract ratified unanimously by the Board of Trustees Tuesday night could mean that a large number of coaches will leave the district.

Under a plan in the contract, which goes into effect July 1, coaches with the least seniority in the district will be placed in a surplus pool of teachers.

Those placed in the pool would lose their full-time class schedules and be given substitute-teaching assignments. Others could retain their full schedules, but could be placed at another high school within the district.

The plan also means that temporary teachers will not be offered a contract next fall, according to Dr. Lawrence Kemper, district superintendent.

The plan comes as a result of declining enrollment in the district’s six schools--Edison, Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach, Marina, Ocean View and Westminster, which make up the Sunset League.

The plan is an alternative to “RIFing”--Reduction In Force, which involves laying off tenured teachers, those with 3 or more years of seniority in a district.

The plan means that there will be no layoffs of tenured teachers in the district.

Many of the plan’s ramifications, such as the number of coaches placed in the surplus pool, might not be known for some time, according to district coaches and athletic administrators.

At least one coach who might be affected said Tuesday afternoon that he believes coaches will leave the district in droves for more secure teaching positions.

“No doubt there’s going to be people dusting off the resumes,” said Dave White, Edison football coach and a teacher at the school for the past 10 years. “It’s a shame. It’s going to hurt. For the next couple of years, it’s going to be tough around here until it (the declining enrollment) levels off.”

White, who has the least seniority in the Edison physical education department according to athletic director Lyman Clower, said he is considering applying elsewhere.

“I may slide by this year, but maybe not next year,” White said.

Leaving Edison would be a difficult decision for White. A 1974 graduate of Edison, White played football for the Chargers. And after graduating from Oregon State, he returned to Edison to become an assistant football coach. He also coached the girls’ basketball team, winning a Southern Section 4-A championship in 1986.

“I think athletically and academically Edison is one of the better high schools around, but maybe I better look elsewhere where I’ll have some job security,” White said.

White is just one of many coaches in the district who could be affected by the new contract. He said he would not be happy coaching football at Edison and teaching at another school in the district.

“I could be at Huntington Beach or Marina or even Ocean View next year,” White said. “It would be tough going from teaching back to subbing.”

“What it (contract) does is eliminate any of the young coaches hired in the last few years,” Clower said.

White said he’s not bitter toward his fellow teachers, who already voted to approve the contract, or with the district.

“I don’t think anyone at the district is trying to wreck anyone,” White said. “The fact is there are less students and less money. You have to make cuts. The teachers’ union voted for the contract. It’s just the minority of teachers (the coaches) who are going to get hurt.”