Tue07072015

News

Effective today, library cards free again in Los Altos

Both Los Altos libraries should see a spike in use soon. After the elimination of an $80 annual card fee that had been in place since 2011, nonresidents will receive free library cards at local libraries, effective today.

Residents of Mountain View ...

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Schools

Almond fifth-graders set sail at Shoreline

Almond fifth-graders set sail at Shoreline


Courtesy of Corinne Finegan Machatzke
Fifth- graders at Almond School launched the boats they designed and built at Shoreline Lake last month.

Almond School fifth-graders boarded their handmade boats at Shoreline Lake in Mountain View last month to...

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Community

Taking it back to 'The Streets': Local filmmaker aims to revive 1970s series 'Streets of San Francisco'

Taking it back to 'The Streets': Local filmmaker aims to revive 1970s series 'Streets of San Francisco'


Courtesy of Charles Alley
Charles Alley’s filmmaking company may be based in Mountain View, but he knows all about “The Streets of San Francisco.” He’s rebooting the 1970s TV classic.

When people look for the next hit TV show, they often assume ...

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Sports

Enjoying the moment


Courtesy of Dick D’OlivA
Former Golden State Warriors trainer Dick D’Oliva, from left, wife Vi, former Warriors assistant coach Joe Roberts and wife Celia ride on a cable car in the victory parade.

Dick D’Oliva almost couldn’...

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Comment

The death knell of suburbia: A Piece of My Mind

The orchards are gone. The single-story ranch house is seen as a waste of valuable land and air space. An eight-lane freeway thunders past the bridle paths in Los Altos Hills. But nothing has signaled the death of suburbia more strongly than the ann...

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Special Sections

While competent & safe, MKC still can't catch European competitors

While competent & safe, MKC still can't catch European competitors


courtesy of Ford
The 2015 Lincoln MKC doesn’t overwhelm as far as overall performance goes, but it does offer comfortable ride quality.

Of all the auto companies with headquarters in the United States, only Ford managed to weather the great re...

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Business

Company installs EV charging stations at LAHS

Company installs EV charging stations at LAHS


Courtesy of Green Charge
Officials from Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and the Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District celebrate the installation of electric-vehicle charging stations at Los Altos High last week.

The Mountain View Los Alto...

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Books

People

HILDA CLAIRE FENTON

Hilda Claire Fenton, beloved wife and mom to 9, grandmother to 30 and great grandmother to 22, passed away June 20 following a long illness. She was 90.

Hilda was born Sept. 28, 1924, to Lois and Gus Farley then of Logan, W. Va. While she was still ...

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Travel

Venetian spa offers ways to de-stress

Venetian spa offers ways to de-stress


Courtesy of The VEnetian
The HydroSpa in the Canyon Ranch SpaClub at The Venetian in Las Vegas offers a muscle-relaxing bath and radiant lounge chairs.

Vegas cab drivers usually ask if you won or lost as soon as you get in their vehicles. They assum...

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Stepping Out

Cast carries 'Arcadia'

Cast carries 'Arcadia'


Courtesy of Pear Avenue Theatre
“Arcadia” stars Monica Ammerman and Robert Sean Campbell.

The intimate setting of Mountain View’s Pear Avenue Theatre proves the perfect place to stage “Arcadia,” allowing audience members to feel as though they a...

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Spiritual Life

Magazine

Living it up Older adults aim to age in place

Living it up Older adults aim to age in place


Megan V. Winslow/Town Crier
Local enthusiasts flock to the Los Altos Senior Center to play bocce ball. The center hosts informal games four days a week and occasional tournaments.

As baby boomers in Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and Mountain View nose...

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Inside Mountain View

Carrying the torch

Carrying the torch


Members of the Mountain View Police Department carry the Special Olympics torch as they run along El Camino Real between Sunnyvale and Palo Alto June 18. Members of the department participate in the relay annually to show their support for Spec...

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Parting shots

Town Crier File photo
Women’s basketball coach Jody Craig has left Foothill College for a position as an assistant coach at a four-year school. She said the environment in Foothill’s athletic department is “toxic.”

Jody Craig has taken a one-year leave from Foothill College, but don’t expect her to return as women’s basketball coach and physical education instructor. Not as long as Susan Gutkind is the athletic director.

“I will never again set foot on the Foothill campus with her in that position,” Craig said last week in an exclusive interview with the Town Crier.

Craig’s relationship with Gutkind, dean of Foothill’s Kinesiology & Athletics Division, has deteriorated steadily since the latter arrived at the Los Altos Hills community college in January 2012. It is to the point that Craig refused to divulge which four-year college hired her as an assistant coach last week for fear that Gutkind would track her down.

“I don’t want her to find me,” said Craig, who disclosed only that she is working at a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics school somewhere in California. “She’ll harass me.”

Craig added that Gutkind is “revengeful” and has “tried to destroy my professional reputation.”

Butting heads before

This isn’t the first time that Craig, who guided the Owls to 14 Coast Conference titles and two state tournament finals in her 17 years as coach, has publicly criticized Gutkind.

In January she told the Town Crier that Gutkind was primarily responsible for the coach being placed on paid administrative leave for more than four months as school officials investigated a possible violation involving her program. She said Gutkind “chose to view me in a very negative light, going so far as actually attacking my integrity as an educator” after learning a returning player who participated in a tournament last summer was not enrolled in a PE class (as required), due to what Craig described as a “clerical error.” Gutkind alerted the California Community College Athletic Association, according to Craig, and its board voted to ban Foothill from the playoffs for one year.

Craig said she was not only shocked to receive the harshest penalty – it was the program’s first violation on her watch – but also with the way the matter was handled by the Foothill administration, which declined to discuss the case with the Town Crier.

“It was never made clear to me that there was an error in (the player’s) enrollment and that this error was so significant that it would result in a potential violation with consequences up to and possibly including postseason probation,” said Craig, adding that she was walked off campus by a vice president Aug. 27 and not permitted to speak to anyone at Foothill until her Nov. 9 hearing. “If our side had been heard, we would have been able to explain prior to being turned in that a clerical error must have been made.”

Relationship worsens

Reinstated in early January, Craig coached the Owls the final six weeks of the season and resumed her teaching duties. Craig’s relationship with Gutkind worsened. She was convinced the athletic director was out to get her.

“When I proved there was nothing to go on (to fire me), that’s when it began,” Craig said. “She was really embarrassed. She started to harass me and it led me to take medical leave for a month.”

That harassment, Craig added, included Gutkind requiring that the coach meet with her every few weeks. Craig brought a faculty representative each time.

“(Gutkind) tried to set me up to say something that could be used against me and poked at my integrity,” Craig said. “Her intent was to document, document, document and get enough paper to fire me.”

‘Toxic’ environment

Craig described the environment in the athletic department as “toxic” and claimed several coaches are unhappy but won’t speak out because “they’re afraid of the ramifications.”

Craig is the second long-standing coach in recent months to take a one-year leave with no intention of returning – men’s basketball coach Shanan Rosenberg left for Linfield College in April to take what he called “my dream job” – and she believes others may exit if changes aren’t made.

“The whole athletic program is in trouble,” Craig said. “The culture has changed the last few years. It’s sadly apparent by who they have hired as dean of the department, but it goes beyond her – it goes all the way to the top.”

Craig noted that recent cuts to tutorial, outreach and other programs show a lack of support for underrepresented student-athletes.

“It’s sad that I built a program, as did other coaches, that helped under-advantaged minority students, and Foothill no longer cares about that,” she said. “Diversity is no longer their passion, and I can’t work at a place like that.”

Gutkind’s reaction

Although Gutkind refused to respond to comments Craig made about her – other than saying, “I disagree with her interpretations” – she did address the budget cuts.

“This is a tough time for community college PE and athletics throughout the state,” Gutkind said. “In the past few years there have been sweeping changes at the state level about access to classes and funding, and related to those, there have also been new rules/regulations added at all levels (state, CCCAA and district). At the same time, there’s been an overall increase in scrutiny and accountability. … We’re all impacted and it definitely has taken adjustment from everyone – students, faculty, staff, administration.”

Gutkind added that many members of the department are making the most of a difficult situation.

“Despite how hard it’s been, and definitely not fun sometimes, you can look all over the division and see faculty working together to make those adjustments,” said Gutkind, formerly the assistant athletic director at Fresno State. “For every ‘Now we have to do what?’ there’s been a ‘Hey, I can help with that,’ which is what strong teams do and is what every administrator loves to see.”

Gutkind maintained that Foothill is “committed to the same priorities I shared with you back when I started – student-athlete academic success, competitive athletic opportunities and building citizenship and personal accountability in a noticeably rules-compliant and fiscally responsible department.”

As for why two of the school’s most successful coaches took one-year leaves within three months of one another, Gutkind said, “I really don’t know what specific causes motivated them. In my experience, the desire for a new opportunity and the availability of another job usually set the course.”

Vacancy remains

Foothill has replaced Rosenberg with Matt Stanley, hired as men’s basketball coach last month, but Craig’s position remains open. Gutkind said she hopes to have someone in place by mid-September.

Craig, granted her leave in June, doesn’t expect any of her assistant coaches to apply for the job or any players on last season’s team to return.

“Foothill put itself in this position,” she said. “For me, it’s a blessing in disguise. It was time to go; I had nothing left to prove and I’m excited about taking on a new challenge. Not a day goes by that I’m not grateful to get this opportunity and to be out of that hell.”

Foothill president Judy C. Miner did not respond to a request for comment on Craig’s criticisms of Gutkind and the administration before the Town Crier’s press deadline.

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