It's Amazing that Women are to blame,...Again

School Board Officially Rules Out Body Building Competition
A representative from the competition asked the district to reconsider the superintendent's decision, but the board said the school will be closed all summer for renovation.
By Nathan McIntire Email the author October 27, 2011
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The school board effectively ruled out any outside activities this summer at Monrovia High School Wednesday, sealing the fate of a body building competition that organizers said was barred because an official didn't want "scantily clad women" associated with the school.

After a resident asked that the issue be placed on the agenda, the Monrovia Unified School Board of Education discussed the decision made by Superintendent Linda Wagner to reject the West Coast Classic Bodybuilding and Figure contest's application to use the school's auditorium for the competition.

District officials said Wednesday that school buildings will be closed for the entire summer break for renovations, adding that the closure had been discussed publicly as far back as August.

Several people questioned why the closure was not mentioned to contest organizers who toured the school in July and said they were told the site would be available for rent in June 2012.

"We were very optimistic after the visit to the auditorium," Karen Myers, an assistant to the promoter, said during the public comment portion of the meeting. "When we inquired about the construction going on on the campus at the time, we were assured that it would be completed by the time school began in September."

Myers said she submitted an application to use the facility on September 23. She received a call a few days later from Wagner, she said.

"She said that there had been a meeting and it was decided to decline our application because of quote, 'scantily clad women,' end quotation," Myers said. No other reason for the denial was given, according to Myers.

Local attorney Robert Link addressed the board and asked why the promoters were not told about the renovations and school closure during their tour.

"If this project of this magnitude was known and on the books, then when the WCC folks came in and toured the facility and were told the facility was going to be available for third parties, why wasn't it mentioned at that time?," Link asked. "I don't want to be needlessly cynical, but it strikes me as odd that that wasn't mentioned at that time."

Wagner did not address the alleged remark about female bodybuilders but said that she had no knowledge of a tour given to the promoters of the event and did not participate in any such tour.

"I’m actually just not sure how the tour took place," Wagner said.

Wagner said the district had been planning the renovations since it laid out its budget. The extensive renovations will take more than a month to complete and must begin right after school ends on June 9, district facilities manager Debbie Bland said.

Link then addressed the board again, asking why Wagner did not inform Myers of the renovations during the September phone call.

"A lot of this probably would have been avoided if Dr. Wagner's first contact had mentioned painting and sandblasting rather than scantily clad women," he said.

Myers asked the board to reconsider her company's application, but because the school has been deemed closed for the entirety of the summer, School Board President Ed Gililland said she would have to apply to use the facility on another day.

Following discussion of the contest's application, the board briefly discussed the policy in place that Wagner used when deciding to deny the competition access. She said that permissable uses of school facilities are essentially up to the discretion of the board.

Resident Cyrus Kemp spoke and suggested the school board outline acceptable and unacceptable uses for facilities. Wagner said she and school district attorneys would work to draft such language and bring it back to the board at its next meeting on Nov. 8, when the policy will be reviewed in depth.