LOS ANGELES, Calif.–The coordinator for the Los Angeles Unified School District’s successful Academic Decathlon program has been reassigned, making his decathlon work a half-time job, apparently because of budget cuts, it was reported today.
Cliff Ker, who has led the district’s Academic Decathlon program since 2000, said he was told he would become an assistant principal at a high school starting next week, the Los Angeles Times reported. He said he would continue as coordinator of Academic Decathlon as a secondary, half-time position.
In the decade that Ker has overseen the decathlon, the program has been a dominating force at the national level, winning seven national titles, including last year’s victory by Granada Hills Charter High School. LAUSD schools have won the national title 12 times since the district’s first victory in 1987, and the district now ranks as the best in the nation, The Times reported.
Ker worries that the district’s dominance could falter.
“I see this as another obstacle,” he told The Times, “but this might be an obstacle I can’t overcome.”
