The Sacramento Bee, March 7, 1984
ENCINA STUDENTS UPSET BY RUSH TO HIGH-TECH
By Elizabeth Fernandez
   Students are being squashed in a heedless stampede toward high tech, say
youngsters at Encina High, home of the San Juan Unified  School District's
newest electronics academy. Under an unusual school-within-a-school concept,
the new academy - set to open in the fall - will focus on the burgeoning
world of technology. Many students, however, say that in the process of
launching the high-tech school, Encina's identity has faded and student
opinion is disregarded.
   Instead of gaining a new program, students feel they are losing their
school. "There's no more enthusiasm here anymore," said Sally Howard, an
Encina junior. "Juniors and seniors are null and void.
Everything seems geared to incoming freshmen, not to the students who
are already here. School has gotten so dull. It's too bad because these are
supposed to be the best four years of our lives."
   "In recent months, school spirit on the 1,600-student campus has been
numbed to near silence," Howard says, a comment strongly supported by
numerous classmates.
   Two weeks ago, student discontent was brusquely brought to the
attention of the Encina administration when about 200 youngsters - many of
them cutting sixth-period classes - held a rally in the school gym. Decrying
what they viewed as bureaucratic blarney, they asked for some answers.
   Tuesday morning during assemblies with each class, Principal Napolean
Triplett offered some answers and an unbidden apology."I made a serious
mistake in not coming to you to explain," he said. "Somehow my ego got in
the way. I should have said, 'We're going to setup a school but I'm not sure
exactly what it will be nor where we will
get the equipment.' I think, when you know more about it, your concerns
about the schoolwill be alleviated.Society is undergoing a technological
boom," Triplett said, providingimpetus for the new school, dubbed the
Academy of Science and Technology.
   "It's a revolution," he told the students. "It's an area that affects you
and will affect you and your children as you become more of an adult. We're
trying to teach you the current technology that you will need to compete in
society."
   Fueled by various funding sources, including $170,000 from the
district, the academy will explore such courses as robotics, laser
photography and keyboardin, and offer three curriculum strands -
information processing, computer science, and electronics/mechanics.
   "Nothing has been taken away from Encina," Triplett said. "Rather, it has
been added to." For many students, however, Triplett's answers were not
satisfactory. Particularly disgruntled are juniors and seniors who say
administrators pay no attention to them.
   "It's like we're old horses being put out to pasture," said junior Ann
Kruger. "Our overall impression is that they're just waiting for us to
leave. We're not getting anything out of it."
   Opposition to the new academy is voiced by younger students as well.
"I've heard that they are going to cut out some art students," said freshman
Brian Clifford, an aspiring sketch artist. "I'm more interested in art than
computers."
   Many youngsters, though, view the academy as an overall improvement,
providing new courses and new equipment. "We're going to be one of the most
superior schools in the country, said Jeff Watson. "It will be really
demanding. We'll have much more homework."
   Bob Pasley, president of the junior class, says he moved from
non-believer to convert. Among his classmates, however, a negative
attitude persists, he says. "My friends say, 'Down with high tech,'" Pasley
said. "It's caused by change. At first I thought that way, too. But now I
see it as a good thing. The high-tech classes aren't being forced on us. We
can be in them only if we want."
   The student morale problem was magnified by a new administration in the
school this year. Triplett, formerly head of Mesa Verde High, switched
positions with Encina Principal Jack Bassett, and two new vice principals
were added.
   "We never have met one of the new vice principals," said Kathryn Stanton,
16. "We're used to being told what's going on. That's why it seems so
different now. I think people are skeptical. We are going into it
half-heartedly because no one told us about it."
   A major source of the concern involves an item important to the
students: Encina's walls. Dozens of student-created murals adorn the walls:
a skeleton on the physiology classroom door, a camera by the photography
classroom, a test tube for the chemistry class. But the district is planning
to paint all high schools in tan and brown. Encina students, partial to the
school colors of cardinal and gold, say the murals will be destroyed
unnecessarily.
   "They give us an identity, a personality," said Bob Carlson, a junior.
The school is doing fine. What we're saying is, if something isn't broken,
don't fix it."
   "A compromise will be reached on the mural controversy," Triplett said.
"Existing murals will be covered but new ones, mounted on plywood to provide
for easy touch-ups, will be painted by the art department."