ACTON — The lights over the Vasquez High School athletic field are almost finished, but trustees for the Acton-Agua Dulce Unified School District still have doubts about the project.
School Board President Fred Heslep refused to hear an update on the lighting project at Thursday night’s meeting, since the school board has never officially voted to endorse the project started by Vasquez High athletic director Tim Jorgensen.
“It doesn’t exist as far as the board is concerned,” Heslep said in the meeting.
Jorgensen bought the lights from Georgia Tech in an eBay online auction early in the summer and picked them up himself from Georgia. Parents and supporters funded the project — which has cost about $17,000 so far, although the district has paid nothing — and Jorgensen brought in contractors, engineers, and architects to handle construction. Everyone is working for free.
Jorgensen still plans to have the lights up and running by Sept. 2 for the first Vasquez home game, if not sooner. The lights were to be all in place on the poles Friday night and the plan was to do the wiring Sunday. If everything checks out, a barbecue under the lights has been planned for Wednesday night.
Trustees first learned of the lighting project in a principal’s report on July 16. Jorgensen told the school board he purchased the lights and would soon drive to Georgia to pick them up. At the time, no one on the board objected, although they told Jorgensen to make sure every piece of paperwork was in order.
This is not the first volunteer-initiated project at Vasquez High. The all-portable campus of about 600 students got its baseball field from parent efforts and almost gained a softball field the same way. Students did most of the campus beautification.
Acton-Agua Dulce Unified has no consistent policy on what must come before the school board, and the shifting foundation of debate kept trustees, community members, and administrators arguing well past the meeting’s 11:00 p.m. adjournment.
Heslep expressed concerns that the board isn’t being kept in the loop on projects. High school administrators grumbled about being micromanaged.
“I’m not against the lights, I’m against the procedure. It should be on the agenda,” Heslep said after the meeting.
Vasquez Principal Martin Young interjected: “If we replace some chairs, is that before the board? Everything we do at the high school can’t be before the board.”
“If it requires kids walking around cranes and 7,000-lb poles, it should come before the board,” Heslep shot back. “We approved putting up volleyball nets.”
Trustee Steve Harbeson said the school board had plenty of notice.
“It should have been (on the agenda for a vote), but that’s our fault,” not Jorgensen’s, Harbeson told Heslep outside the school multipurpose room after the meeting ended.
Heslep responded: “He knew how the system worked and he circumvented it.”
After 20 minutes of arguing, the debate came down to two questions:
“Did he come and tell the board what he was going to do?” Harbeson asked.
“Did he put it on the agenda?” Heslep asked back.
In the background of all such discussions is the Vasquez High gymnasium, which has sat empty and unused for nearly a year since the district learned the building lacked state approval. If a student were hurt inside the facility, trustees might be personally liable.
The lights at Vasquez aren’t tall enough to need approval from the Division of the State Architect, which oversees school construction. DSA is staying clear of this project, except to say what the rules are.
“We don’t normally get involved in these types of issues,” Spokesman Matt Bender said when asked who would be liable if a student gets hurt during construction.
“The best way to deal with that is to make sure those light posts never fall down, and the best way to do that is to have licensed professionals oversee it.”
Superintendent Linda Wagner said the district is insured against such a tragedy.
“This is the type of project that definitely warrants board approval,” she added. “The board has been fully apprised of the project and kept well informed.”
Jorgensen was back on the field with the football team Friday and he said the last lights would be up by that afternoon. He said he understands trustees’ concern, but said he is making sure everything is done right.
“This is adults getting in the way,” he said. He added that the school board needs to trust its employees to do their jobs.
Student Trustee Mansur Ivie, a Vasquez football player, said the lights will benefit more than just the football team.
“We’re not doing this for 60 kids,” he said. “We’re doing this for 600.”