Bayside High under fire for standards reform

BAYSIDE, Calif.- Everything is not "all right" for Bayside High School principal Richard Belding, who came under fire last week by the California State Education Examination (CSEE) board after repeated failure to raise Bayside's education standards under regulations stipulated by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2003.

"These kids spend five, maybe ten, minutes in class at most. And the only class they ever go to is history, taught by Mr. Dewey. While there have been other teachers hired under the authority of [Belding], their attendance to work record is atrocious, showing up only once every few months, at best," Gary D'ellabate, senior administrator of the CSEE, reported at the CSEE board meeting Tuesday.

"It's no wonder that these kids' have a combined reading level of six years old - their standardized test scores are the lowest reported scores in the country," D'ellabate said.

D'ellabate, who also criticizes Belding's lack of discipline in discerning matters of educational importance, catapulted a media maelstrom when citing Belding's personal invovlement in the affairs of students like A.C Slater and Samuel "Screech" Powers.

"Belding chose to blow off a conference in Sacramento to discuss upcoming statewide testing, and instead opted to help his students retaliate against Valley High School in some ridiculous 'prank war' - even going so far to visit Valley principal Louis Strickwell during school hours to exchange jibes and jokes, when he should have been giving a keynote address," D'ellabate reported.

This is not the first time Belding has been criticized by state administrators for his ethics policy. Belding first drew criticism in 1990 for his much-talked about new-issue Ferrari convertible, which he lent to unlicensed students Lisa Turtle and Zachary Morris.

Though Belding admitted the loan was unwitting, he was unable to present the board with receipts for the automobile purchase, which led the city council to come under investigation for ethics violations.

"I was once a high school principal, and the best I could afford was a five year-old Toyota Corolla," D'ellabate said. "Sure, Reaganomics was good to all of us, but a brand new fire-red convertible Ferrari? I'm not buying it."

Among other questionable purchasing options Belding has authorized, the high school principal allowed students to determine budgets of up to $10,000 for after-school athletic programs - and let them setlle their disagreements through a gender war.

"We're not talking an in-class assignment on, say, budgeting with $100. We're talking thousands upon thousands of the taxpayers' dollars, left in the hands of 15- and 16 year-old students to decide what to do with it... with some silly, immature contest," D'ellabate said.

The CSEE and the California State Ethics Committee will conduct their annual joint meeting at the Sacramento State Courthouse this Thursday. Among topics to be discussed include: a hearing on Belding's Bayside tenure, the high rate of teenage pregnancy as it correlates with the arrival of an unnaturally good-looking new student at 21 Jump Street, and finally, teachers who have managed to school Peter Brady, Tabitha Stevens, Blair Warner, and Wally Cleaver despite the fact that all of those students lived in different time zones.