CVCHS board removes interim title from executive director Dave Fehte
CONCORD, CA (Apr. 15, 2022) — Clayton Valley Charter High School announced last month that Dave Fehte will serve as the school’s third permanent executive director following a unanimous vote by the Concord school’s governing board.
At CVCHS’ regular monthly meeting in March, the Board announced Fehte as the permanent executive director effective Mar. 9. The three-year contract calls for an annual salary of $230,000.
Fehte was hired as the interim executive director in March 2021 when Jim Scheible announced he would be leaving following the conclusion of the 2020-21 school term, a year before his second two-year contract was set to expire. Scheible’s surprise announcement came soon after the school resumed relatively full on-campus learning a year after the pandemic first shutdown Clayton Valley Charter.
At that time Fehte, a veteran charter school administrator from Southern California, was tasked with overseeing day-to-day operations, providing support to board members and developing long-term planning with the goal of increasing student outcomes.
He had an additional challenge when school principal Jeff Anderson retired early in this 2021-22 school year for personal reasons. Anderson had been expected to finish out this school year before taking his retirement.
The CVCHS principal position was created several years ago by the school’s first executive director, Dave Linzey, after a number of issues arose between him, the faculty and CVCHS staff. Linzey and his aide moved to a district office on Kirker Pass Rd.
That office closed last year, and the school has no plans to fill the principal position with Fehte serving as executive director and on campus principal as Linzey did when the local charter began.
Fehte’s career includes basketball
Fehte has had a lengthy career in education and has been involved with charter high schools since 2006. He also has been a college basketball coach and NBA scout. He was briefly the interim head coach of Saint Mary’s College Gaels basketball in the 1990-91 season.
He began his teaching career in 1986 as a special education teacher and eventually moved to El Camino Real High School, leading the drive to convert the San Fernando Valley school to a charter school, much like the journey Clayton Valley High traveled in 2011-12.
While principal at El Camino Real he moonlighted as a scout for the San Antonio Spurs, an NBA franchise he was associated with for 20 years. Fehte used his school credit card to charge expenses for 2014 and 2015 trips to college tournaments. He reimbursed the school for all charges but his 2016 departure from El Camino Real followed a period of controversary.
“I’m grateful for the board’s confidence in our collective accomplishments. It has been my pleasure to serve as interim executive director for the past 12 months,” said Fehte. “While the pandemic presented some challenges with serving our students and day-to-day operations, our school successfully navigated COVID limitations to provide as many opportunities as possible for student success.”
School enumerates successes
The school reports that during Fehte’s tenure CVCHS made meaningful improvements to academic supports, student interventions and mental health resources. CVCHS saw significant decreases in Targeted Case Management enrollment by 45% and student D’s and F’s by 39%.
The reduction of potential fifth-year students resulted in a potential cost savings of approximately $1 million to CVCHS in unfunded average daily attendance, the primary source of school funding through the State of California.
To address emotional and social health issues, Clayton Valley Charter hired a new licensed marriage and family therapist, provided counseling staff with enhanced resources, implemented a student behavior rewards program and hosted monthly online parent seminars.
Additionally, the CVCHS Governing Board announced in March that Kristy Downs Powell was elected by parents and guardians to the board as the parent representative and that she will serve as the new board president. This will be Downs Powell’s second tenure serving on the CVCHS Board. In 2020, she and Scheible led CVCHS’ successful campaign for a five-year charter renewal with the Contra Costa County Board of Education. She replaces parent Kevin Zimmer who termed out earlier this school year.
Jay Bedecarré
Jay Bedecarré is a long-time resident and writer in Concord and Clayton. He began his newspaper writing career while still a senior at Mt. Diablo High School and he has been part of The Pioneer since its inception in 2003. Jay also operates Bay Area Festivals, presenting events around the San Francisco Bay Area including Bay Area KidFest annually in Downtown Concord.