Vickers Keeps Up the Pace

School board incumbent Jan Vickers says she has missed only two board meetings in the 26 years she’s served in elected office, helping govern the four-campus Laguna Beach school district.

The volunteer job continues to animate her. “I feel I have a lot to contribute to the district with my background and experience,” said Vickers. She figures she possesses historical knowledge that is especially valuable to the district’s two newly hired top administrators. “I still want to do the work,” the 69-year-old educator said in a recent interview.

Vickers says her main focus is to help the board remain student-centered by analyzing “authentic assessments.” The term refers to measuring improvements by students who are asked to perform real-world tasks that demonstrate their aptitude for applying knowledge and skills. Vickers said she tries to focus board discussion on goals and setting the bar high for academic excellence.

Her commitment to high academic student achievement was questioned at a recent candidates forum by school board challenger Howard Hills. He said he disagreed with Vickers’ position on a 3-2 vote to change grade weighting in February as well as how the decision emerged from a committee that he claimed lacked a cross-section of opinion.

At the forum, Hills pointed out that both Vickers and candidate Peggy Wolff supported the recommendation of the committee that evaluated weighting of grades. Ultimately, the board adopted the committee recommendations, which changed grade-points assigned to about six high school honors classes to reflect a shift in emphasis in college admission acceptance, valuing well-rounded students as much as GPA ranking.

Hills said he had “been tracking it very carefully; that’s why I’m running.”

Vickers said accountability by the school district could be improved with more follow-up on how students fare after graduation. “There isn’t a good way to track students right now,” Vickers said.

And, as a way to involve more parents in shaping board decision making, Vickers she said she’s encouraged her colleagues to hold more informal “study sessions” outside of the regular board meetings.

Vickers earned her bachelor’s degree in art with the first class to graduate from UC Irvine in 1969. She later earned credentials to teach secondary and elementary school and early child hood education.

Her experience as a foster mother to newborns gives her a unique perspective. “You learn that things get better; I learned to broaden my thinking with kids that struggle,” said Vickers, who has served as a foster parent to infants and some older children for eight years.

Born in Whittier to public school teaching parents, she would visit Laguna on weekends with her family and friends. She decided to move to Laguna after high school where she shared a place with a girlfriend and supported herself while in college as a hotel maid and waitress. Vickers later worked as a substitute teacher in all four Laguna public schools and enrolled two of her children in the local schools as well. Her work as an educator extended to working as the Laguna Methodist Church preschool administrator as well.

Vickers’ interest in running for office was sparked by the closure in 1981 of Aliso Elementary, where her son attended school. At the time, the closure’s cause was blamed on financial predictions based on declining enrollment. Vickers felt she could help improve the way the district managed its finances. Today, she has served 26 years as a trustee, including four terms as president, though the terms have not been successive.

A break in that service occurred in 1987, when Vickers and two other board members were recalled over a controversial vote.

Vickers, the late Carl Schwarz and Charlene Ragatz showed leniency by voting to reinstate a former pro football player and high school football coach, who had been arrested on a drug charge. Their vote followed a recommendation that the coach attend a drug counseling program.

Former board member and attorney Tim Carlyle, who served on the board from 1992-1996, called the controversy “a tempest in a teapot.”

Carlyle said, “I respect her and her integrity. She’s passionate about education and gets into the subject matter with enthusiasm.” While he had high praise for Vickers, Carlyle described each of the three contestants as “very high quality.”

Several other past and present board members, including Theresa O’Hare, Bob Whalen and Dee Perry did not return calls or declined comment about Vickers’ candidacy.

Voted back on the board in 1992, Vickers is now the senior member of the board and will become president a fifth time if she succeeds in winning re-election. Current board President Bill Landsiedle, who is not seeking re-election, praised Vickers for her devotion to the issues, always arriving at board meetings fully prepared.

For fun, Vickers exercises. She does strength training, runs, bikes, and enjoys hiking with her husband, Don Vickers, who she met at Woods Cove in 1967.