The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 190

B4 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 1997 VC LOS ANGELES TIMES dvUmA fees rlBfmttUrf-- Ventura Council Sticks With Status Quo, Won't Restrict City Panelists Politics: Members deadlock over whether to limit people who serve on commissions, committees and boards, effectively squelching an unwritten two-term rule. School Visits a Learning Experience for Officials Education: As part of an annual statewide program, local leaders from government and business put themselves in the principal role briefly. 3 ill -It a -i 1 rtt-'L ALAN HAGHAN Los Angela Times Principal Kristine Robertson at county's McBride Juvenile Court school. fc. 1 mr.

ft I and special events are made up of volunteers who make recommendations to the City Council, serving as a grass-roots part of the policymaking process. In the past, the council has operated under the informal rule that no appointee should serve more than two terms. But without a formal policy or guideline, exceptions were often made. As a result, volunteers who serve on the high-profile committees, such as the Planning Commission, rarely serve more than three terms, while volunteers on more obscure technical committeessuch as the Inspection Services Appeals Board sometimes serve for decades. Friedman argued that the city needs to tap its huge pool of qualified people to serve on committees "Do I wish to see term limits? Absolutely," he said.

"We need to bring in new, fresh blood, new ideas." Monahan agreed. "I think a lot of people are being kept out," he said. "We have many, many applications from people who want to get involved. It's not really fair to keep appointing the same people." But Tingstrom argued that if the city cleared away veteran volunteers, it could wipe out ranks of qualified people. "I would not go for term limits," he said before the vote.

"You adopt that, you wipe out things. Di Guilio, too, worried about losing good people. "As long as an individual is serving the community well, we should not have limits," he said. Nicholas Deitch, a local architect, is serving his third term on two panels the Historic Preservation Committee and the Design Review Committee. He says he can understand why jt is important to get fresh blood into the committee system, but he does not know whether imposing term limits is the answer.

"There's no question that people who serve for a long time can get kind of stale," he said. "The problem with term limits is you can have people who are really good and then two terms are up, and it's, 'Sorry, you're out of He suggested that city officials might be able to better monitor committee members and their effectiveness by meeting with them even once a year to discuss important issues. By HILARY E. MacGREGOR TIMES STAFF WRITER VENTURA Every council member agreed that something needed to be done about the current system. But after half an hour of heated debate, the Ventura City Council voted Monday night to stick with the status quo: The city will not impose term limits on volunteers serving on the city's 14 boards, commissions and committees.

The decision will also effectively squelch the unwritten and only selectively enforced practice of selecting committee members for only two terms. The vote was 3 to 3, resulting in no action being taken. Council-woman Rosa Lee Measures is out of town for the week. Saying term limits could drive out good people, Mayor Jack Tingstrom and council members Steve Bennett and Ray Di Guilio voted against them. But arguing that the committee system needs a constant infusion of new blood, council members Jim Friedman, Gary Tuttle and Jim Monahan voted in favor of limits.

The proposal to establish rules was suggested by the three council members who make recommendations for who should sit on the city committees Di Guilio, Bennett and Monahan. The issue comes before the council now because numerous vacancies are to occur soon. A total of 24 terms will end in 1997. Monahan said city staff is playing a larger role in the selection process these days and that, too, is prompting change. He said increased bureaucracy makes a policy or guideline a necessity.

Bennett said the issue came up in a recent session when the three councilmen realized how ambiguous the rules or lack of rules-are. "We need to try to clarify this in the long run," Bennett told the council. He laid out the problems: "We didn't even know what a term was. We try to limit it to two terms, but sometimes we make exceptions." He concluded: "We shouldn't stay with the status quo which is an unwritten, two-term policy which sometimes can be applied, sometimes can't." The advisory panels which oversee everything from libraries to art in public places to tourism tffl 6 fi -4 Ventura Mayor Jack Tingstrom and receive off -campus privileges. Tingstrom appeared impressed with how much of a focus the Juvenile Court schools place on educating their students.

"What surprised me the most was the interest the youths showed in education," he said. "I saw everybody trying to make the best of the situation." As he entered some classrooms, the mayor found himself an instant celebrity, with students asking him for his autograph. At one point, he told students about how last year, at the age of 61, he earned his bachelor's degree after studying for four years. "It was so important to continually go after it and go after the goal," said Tingstrom, speaking before students in a social science class. "You never want to stop learning." Across the county in Thousand Oaks, Forman spent part of her day touring Banyan School with Principal George Cole.

Children in shorts and T-shirts swarmed the elementary school's playground, enjoying the warm weather. As they watched third-graders square off on the basketball court, Coyle told his shadow principal about some of the challenges he faces, including disciplining rambunctious preteens and meeting the expectations of parents in a "pro-school" community. "You've got a lot of variety," Coyle said. "It never gets boring." The principal said recent changes in state school regulations are having an effect at Banyan. Architects are trying to determine how the school's buildings can be reconfigured so class sizes can be reduced to 20 students per room.

Forman, who is in charge of maintenance for 315 GTE buildings in the western U.S., said she sees similarities between her job and the principal's. "I think it's very similar in that he's the manager of a facility, and he has to make management decisions every day," Forman said. She said the school seemed well-maintained, contrasted with the Los Angeles County schools that her children attended. And for a moment, the GTE facilities manager got a chance to slip out of her 77' By REGINA HONG and CHRIS CHI SPECIAL TO THE TIMES Ventura Mayor Jack Tings-trom went back to school" Tuesday. So did Veronica Forman, a facilities manager for Thousand Oaks-based GTE.

But Tingstrom and Forman did not return to school as students. Instead, they joined dozens of other government officials as well as business and civic leaders from around the county, learning what it's like to be a school principal at least for a few hours. The "Principal for a Day" event, an annual statewide program sponsored by the California Educational Partnership Consortium, is designed to forge closer ties between schools and businesses by giving community leaders a firsthand look at schools. "The goal is to enable leaders in the community to know what kinds of kids we serve, for them to know the actual work of the principal and to get advice from business leaders on how to improve the schools," county schools Supt. Charles Weis said.

So the more than two dozen participants rolled up their sleeves Tuesday, took three to four hours off their morning schedules and toured their school campuses. The experience was an eye-opener for Tingstrom. For years, he whizzed down North Hillmont Avenue on his way to work at City Hall, passing the county's three Juvenile Court schools, wondering what went on at the campuses but not having a clue. All that changed Tuesday when Tingstrom was given an up-close look of the campuses by Principal Kristine Robertson, who overseas about 210 students attending McBride, Colston and the Juvenile Restitution Program schools. The three campuses run by the county superintendent's office both house and educate mostly high school-age students who are there for violations that range from breaking probation curfews to committing violent crimes.

"What I saw was a revelation," Tingstrom said after following Robertson around the campuses for half a day. "You don't even think youth have to be in a lockup situation, but it happens." Students at McBride, a maximum-security school, live, eat and learn at the school, while Colston and the Juvenile Restitution Program students occasionally FREE CD 1500 attendees 21726 Plicerita AMERICAN 1 appease neighbors. She said she would try to arrange for a GTE crew to measure decibel levels at the school and try to figure out what is causing the nighttime noise. At the end of her tour, Forman cited one aspect of Coyle's job that she could not relate to: having about 600 young children know you by name. "If I had a second career, I'd be a principal," Forman said.

I I I STANDARD yy Xli'i i CARLOS CHAVEZ Lea Angela Timei Banyan School Principal George Cole introduces Veronica Forman, a facilities manager for GTE in Thousand Oaks, to some class activities. Looking for past articles? Quick. Chtap. Easy. role as shadow principal and serve as a consultant to the school.

Coyle explained that Banyan has received complaints from a resident who says humming from a refrigerator compressor in the school's cafeteria is keeping him up at night. "You can imagine, if you couldn't sleep at night, you'd be pretty intense," Coyle said. Forman said GTE, like Banyan, sometimes finds itself trying to UP TO 80 EXHIBITS Advertisement Pi SANTA CLARITA: The Master's Colleee Canyon Rd at the gym (San Fernando Rd. to 13th St, East to Placertta Cyn. Rd.) MEGA 818-961-3782 web: www.megashow.com surgery realigns the bones Become a part of the Time Warner Experience and take advantage of our BEST EVER customer offer! Call 700-6500 for $095 Get Cable Installed only GET! Both HIS and SHOWTIME at the 2 for 1 price of Through December 31, 1997 Advertisement New bunion Many people suffer from the symptoms of bunion formation: pain, unsightly feet, calluses and leg fatigue.

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