Journalism instructor, editor-to-be speak about class cancellation threat
By Keri Luiz
Assistant Editor
In a last-ditch effort to sway Benicia Unified School District officials, a pair of Benicia High School teachers spoke to the Board of Trustees Thursday and urged that Principal Gary Jensen not be let go.
“I think you are making a big mistake by getting rid of Gary Jensen,” said Lisa Honeycutt, chair of the school’s English department. “I am very sad to see him go.”
Jensen was hired in 2009. The district has been actively seeking his replacement since April 10. Questions about the cause of his dismissal have gone unanswered because of district policy regarding discussion of “personnel matters.”
Honeycutt said losing Jensen would cause upheaval in her department and elsewhere in the school. “We have issues with the blending of the classes, and the scheduling. We don’t have our master schedule yet, etc.
“It’s not feeling fun at the high school right now, you guys. It really isn’t.”
She said with a new principal next year, she fears another transition period will adversely affect students.
“How much time does it take to get (a new principal) up to speed?” Trustee André Stewart asked.
“Truly I think to get to know the culture of a place where you’re working, it’s got to be at least a six-month time period of everybody being there,” Honeycutt said.
“There’s definitely a lag time when you bring in new people.”
Another English teacher, Ron Calderon, spoke of students’ concerns. “This is one of the first times that these kids feel comfortable with the principal,” he said.
“Of all the principals I’ve dealt with, he is one of the most genuine. I’ve had disagreements with him. He and I don’t always see eye to eye. But we can talk about it. I may not like his decision, and he may not like my attitude, but the fact of the matter is, he’s been supportive of me, and he’s been supportive of my kids.”
Public comment provided most of the noteworthy events in the trustees’ meeting, which was abbreviated so board members could attend a series of open houses at the district’s four elementary schools.
Steve Gibbs, English and journalism teacher at Benicia High and longtime Herald contributor, spoke about the threatened cancellation of the journalism class because of low enrollment.
The class publishes the Paw, the school’s student newspaper, six times per year.
“I’m not here to convince you how important the school newspaper is,” Gibbs told trustees. “I just wanted to inform you a little bit about the machinations that go on that concern me.”
Journalism is a specialty class that doesn’t appeal to a broad audience of students, he said. “It’s time-consuming, challenging and demands keen writing skills and self-driven determination to succeed. As a result we do not get a stampede of signups. If class size were not an issue, this reality wouldn’t be a problem. I was the editor of the Penn State newspaper with six students, and we did just fine.”
But class size is an issue, Gibbs acknowledged.
“Business is business and I’m frequently required to go out after the initial enrollment and redouble my efforts to recruit students to be ‘warm bodies,’ to fill the vacant seats,” he said. “Or students are simply assigned to journalism, and they find out about it on the first day of school.”
The problem with that, he said, is that it results in the class being populated with students who are ill-equipped for the rigor of the program. “If someone is not prepared for this challenge, (I tell them) they should see their counselor and arrange an elective transfer.”
But in the last few years, Gibbs said, counselors have been instructed to deny students’ requests to drop certain electives, and the choices they made in the spring are cemented in the fall. “Too often, they fail,” he said — and that failing grade stays with them permanently, negatively affecting their GPA.
Anjuli Peters, a sophomore who has been selected to co-edit the Paw next year, also addressed the board.
“I’ve always had an interest in writing, and I’m pursuing a career in journalism,” Peters said. “I was the editor of my middle school yearbook, I write a column for The Benicia Herald, and I’m starting an internship at The Herald for the summer.
“This class has provided me with an experienced instructor (and) creative challenges. It has helped me develop my skills in writing, editing, layout, critical thinking, and most importantly piqued my interest in what is going on in our school and in our community,” she said.
“The paper is a way for the students to have a voice. The student perspective matters. Without a school paper, the students’ voice is silenced. And the school, the students, and the community suffer.”
Rob Peters, Anjuli’s father and a counselor at Diablo Valley College, also spoke.
“I don’t ever want to lose sight of the fact how important journalism is and how important newspapers are. How they keep us honest, and how they keep us really anxious,” said Peters, also a Herald contributor. “They share information, and they encourage debate on different sides of an issue. …
“I’m really proud of my daughter,” he said. “Because she’s my daughter — but also because she was turning down AP classes. She wanted to do this, this is her passion.”
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I got cut off by the three-minute buzzer before I got to share solutions offered up by Principal Jensen who sat with me for two hours after school Wednesday – he suggested we move the Paw online and incorporate online web design to draw in students from THAT class which is also being collapsed due to low enrollment. It may very well be that the last act of or potentially fired popular principal is that he saves high school journalism by bringing us into the 21st century cloud. Thank you Gary for your efforts to save the Paw
Steve-
Can’t you have a mixed class? Meaning have a small group of Journalism students in one of your English classes. When I was at BHS eons ago I took a Video Production class with Mr. Maharry and there were only 4 of us and we did our stuff in the back while he taught 12th Grade English to a full class. Not the ideal situation but perhaps a thought if enrollment is the issue.
The problem is that it’s more than a full-time curriculum to run a school newspaper. Jensen’s suggestion of collapsing the web design class and moving some of those students to journalism to supervise putting the Paw online is the best idea that’s come along. That would also give us an opportunity to include some broadcast journalism as we could easily stream video on our site. That’s something we’ve been considering for many years. If Gary allows us the opportunity to bring web and paper news together, I think we’re saved.
I don’t really understand why having them separate is even an option in this day and age. Every paper I know of is both. Some (Seattle P.I. comes to mind) are even web only. Why would you have a separate print class?
Web class did official school page. I taught that for two years. It too was full time curriculum. New paw would be print/ online. Not maintaining school official site. I have low enroll because paw is too much work. Adding more to curriculum could lose me even more students. We would like to be just news but in paper and online.
My three kids all have graduated from BHS (well, .. my youngest will graduate in two weeks), and I can state categorically that Mr. Jensen has been the best principal I have seen in all these years. I am not sure why the board is acting. Perhaps something has happened that cannot be disclosed publically, but whatever the reasons the board must justify its actions. If the board does choose to remove Mr. Jensen, the people of Benicia need to take note and hold the board accountable for its actions.
I have asked many involved what the possible reasons could be for removal of Mr. Jensen. To date, I have not heard one legitimate or speculated event that would justify removal. If there was a serious personnel or HR event, I believe we would all know by now. At this point, I can only conclude that Mr. Jensen has “rubbed” a few people wrong, and those people are most likely connected to the board.
Is the bar so low in this district that “likability” can cause termination? Do we really want to change principals by whim? Shouldn’t there be legitimate cause? I only hope the board is truly acting in the best interests of the students and parents of BHS. I fear they may be acting due to a couple of disgruntled employees. I hope not.
How many principals do we need to go through? I recently graduated and never once felt that there was any stabilty in the administrative division of the school. While Jensen is not my favorite person, he certainly has my respect. The administration needs to start doing its actual job overall.
I think it’s fair to say the the Board is the problem and not Jensen.
I’m very excited and grateful to hear that Mr. Gary Jensen has proposed the active, forward-looking solution that he has. (I can fully understand Mr. Gibbs’ appreciation of his principal’s proposal, given Steve’s considerable experience in both fields.)
Rather than referencing old models of “how it used to be,” somewhere else, I’m relieved that we are pro-actively looking at this century’s and the campus community’s current and future-leaning needs. What an outstanding opportunity to meld together both the web-design enrollment along with the traditional Journalism course. Both could have a positive, synergistic effect on one another as students; and the product achieved would be much more in keeping with where journalism — both print AND online — are clearly heading. We don’t want our BHS students transferring up into “Communication” or “Mass Media” majors at college being handicapped by merely either/or education and hands-on experience at the high-school level.
Once again, many thanks to the students’ resilience, Mr. Gibb’s perseverance, and some bold, clear-headed problem-solving from the institution’s principal, Mr. Gary Jensen. Pat Anderson
I agree Pat. The skills these students are learning (and APPLYING their knowledge) in the domains of critical thinking, writing, research, communication, teamwork, interviewing, time-management, sales and marketing — and now digital/technical areas! Who can argue that these provide a solid foundation for career paths in business, law, advertising, public relations, academia, service fields, etc.? I personally think the board will no doubt do right by our students, too: None wants to see a campus newspaper die.
Blending the fields together appears to stand out as a win-win situation. Right on, Mr. Jensen!
Ron
So we have a difficult class that not many students want to take. We have experienced people in-the-know who say that students shy away from the class because of the work required. Many people agree that this course, and others like it, will help develop skills necessary to excell in life.
Perhaps we should be impressing upon our youth that hard work now sets you up for future success.
Doing what it takes to be in the top 1% of your high school just might mean that you’ll be in the top 1% of earners in twenty years. Similar rewards potentially await for those in the top 10%.
Of course this presupposes that people actually want to be a one percenter. And it presupposes that society wants their best and brightest to work hard, advance society and enjoy their just rewards.
Or we can all just lament the facts that our youth don’t want to work hard and that not everybody achieves the same success.
It appears it is over. They are in interview process for a new principal.. What is the big secret.
Surprisingly dense even for you Bob. The big secret is WHY. Jensen is a popular and respected principal. Why is he getting sacked?
?
😛
Mike –
If you call Bob L dense, I’m guessing that you see yourself as superior in intellect, ability, societal contribution and economic success relative to Bob.
Given your superiority, please enlighten us with your answers. Reveal the secrets! Why is Jensen getting sacked? Why has this school board hired and fired so many High School principals in the last ten years.
Tom, I am the one who is calling for answers. Bob is saying “it is over,” by which he means we should move on. As far as intellectual superiority and contributions to society, no question I offer more. But that doesn’t have any bearing on what is known and unknown in this case. Don’t you want to know why they’re firing Jensen?
I’m curious as to why they’re firing Jensen. I want to know why the school board has such a dismal record of hiring High School Principalswho proove to be sustainable. And I really want a view into all of these secrets you claim to possess. You imply that you know why Jensen is on the chopping block. Please spill the beans. Or tell us why you can’t. Or why you’re such a tease.
I implynosuch thin. What have I written that leads you to this erroneous conclusion?
This particular board is not responsible for the string of principals over the years, but dragging out the decision one way or the other is really unfortunate for everyone concerned. But there are a lot of things that go into any personnel decision, some are just not obvious to the public and probably shouldn’t be. Even though someone might be extremely well liked as Gary most definitely is, that isn’t the only thing that’s important, but it is a personnel decision that the board and district office are obligated to keep confidential. How many here would want their bosses to broadcast to everyone any personnel issues they may have with you?
If I pay Jensen’s salary and if I vote for the School Board than I DO have a right to know what the issue is.
Actually, no you don’t. Personnel issues have always been confidential unless there’s some major criminal reason and there is nothing of the sort here.
It is over
The questions will persist until answered.
So be it, it is over.
So be it, we’ll keep asking until we find out. Interesting that when it comes to our schools, Bob doesn’t display the same inquisitiveness as he does with city matters. I guess that shows how much he cares about Benicia’s future.