DECATHLON CONTEST CLEANUP IN WORKS DECATHLON BOARD ADDRESSES ERRORS.

Byline: Cecilia Chan Staff Writer

SAN ANTONIO - Following complaints from coaches threatening secession, the U.S Academic Decathlon will eliminate some resource materials and cut the price on others, officials announced Saturday.

The board of directors adopted recommendations by an 11-member ad hoc committee of academic coaches, state directors and board members addressing concerns about the many errors and the high price of study guides.

But a Los Angeles Unified School District board member said the changes were inadequate, and he is asking board members to hold a hearing on what he called schools' ``addiction'' to materials sold by the USAD.

``What they've done here is they've debased the most promising and enriching academic competition into routine, standardized, boring curriculum in a box,'' said board member David Tokofsky, who coached a national championship team in 1987.

The recommendations were adopted Friday and presented Saturday to state Academic Decathlon directors.

``The board has received a lot of commentary and feedback from coaches committed to the USAD program,'' said president-elect Franklin Wurtzel. ``It's a program that is changing and developing, and we are sensitive to feedback.''

Among the major recommendations adopted for the 2000-01 competition are these:

--Resource guides for math, economics and art will be eliminated. But resource guides for music, science and language and literature will continue to be prepared.

A nine-page report from the ad hoc committee states, ``The fact that the curriculum guides prepared for the 1999-2000 competition contain a large number of errors may be evidence that USAD lacks the expertise or resources to prepare high-quality curriculum guides on an annual basis.''

--Approximately 50 percent of the test questions will be taken from the prepared resource guides and the balance from the Comprehensive Curriculum Guide.

--The $495 price of the ``Curriculum Box'' containing resource materials will be reduced by 25 percent. The box will not include the eliminated material.

However, former El Camino Real High coach Mark Johnson, who was among those with concerns and who sent a letter to the organization in the fall, said the changes do not go far enough and are not likely to please the concerned coaches.

``This is such halaked reform,'' said Johnson, reached in California. He said coaches want more research and less memorization of study guides.

``Rather than doing real research . . . it becomes hunting,'' said Johnson, who coached his team to the national championship in 1998.

He added that the 25 percent price reduction will only partially offset the costs of competing in the event. ``Everyone's going to hate it.''

Tokofsky said he hoped to hear coaches' testimony on the issue at the board's next Instruction Committee meeting on April 27. He has circulated an angry letter he wrote to a USAD representative in Burbank to other school board members to help put the issue on the agenda.

``We spend nearly $50,000 a year on your materials,'' Tokofsky wrote. ``A refund ought to be in order.''

Wurtzel said the board had to balance the needs of states like California, which has established programs, with those of fledgling states that are looking to expand.

``Some California coaches were very vocal, (as well as) coaches from other states,'' he said. ``Certainly, we also had a body of coaches who very much liked the direction the program is taking.''

Wurtzel said the inaccuracies in the study materials caused the organization to think it overextended itself.

``Should we be providing as much material as we did last year?'' he said. ``We as an organization are committed to providing quality material.''

He said the board will meet again in November or December to assess the situation and examine any other changes that might be needed.

The board also adopted the recommendation to expand the curriculum commission to 12 members and reduce participation by USAD directors. Also, state directors' role in policy making will be expanded, Wurtzel said.

``We exist because of the participation of schools in our program,'' he said. And we are sensitive to what they want.''

- Staff Writer Erik Nelson contributed to this report.