DIXON, CA (MPG) - The man trudged up to the podium with heavy work boots in farmer wear of jeans, a black and white plaid shirt, and the emblematic forest green vest looking every bit of an Ag teacher. After standing silent for a moment, his shoulders slumped, Marcus Tanaka, a Dixon High School Ag teacher for more than a decade struggled for composure to say, “I’m broken.”

Superintendent of Schools Brian Dolan had just supplied an exhaustive update on the Dixon High School Farm where a normal thinking person would think he was the project manager. Dolan reported on $16,000 spent for fixtures in the green house, animal pens, 5-month delays with the utility company and Fire approvals. 

He said that the company they work with sent the wrong keys and they had to send them back and now with the supply chain issues, that could delay things further.

“I can’t give you a hard timeline,” Dolan said, “but I have impressed on our partners that we are very behind. My apologies that we are not further along.” 

To Tanaka, those words were just “excuses” for not having the project done because Dolan refused to include any of the Ag teachers or their expertise in the project.

“I called and I wrote emails and finally said ‘well, you must not want my input,’” he told the School Board despite that he had taught 15 years in Woodland and built their offsite 45’ x 90’ pole barn with a permanent fence and extra Ag shed there.

“I didn’t get communicated with at all. I was never included. My skills go far beyond the classroom, but you never once returned my call,” said the man who started teaching nearly 30 years ago after graduating from Cal-Poly State University with Agribusiness Management and who has expertise in Project Management, Educational Technology, and Educational Leadership. “I was ignored.”

Tanaka grew up on a small family horse ranch and appreciated lessons from his DHS Ag teacher John Ramos. Tanaka raised sheep and cattle and when he came back to Dixon, he wanted his sons to have the same opportunities. He said he was excited when the discussion of the new barn started and had already reached out to local farmers who would have “helped a lot” for free.

Tanaka lamented that when he first came here, 100 to 125 students were “knocking down the doors” to get to show an animal in the May Fair and they had a place for them. 

“Five years ago, if I had known it would take this long to build a barn, I would have said don’t sell the old one. At least we could get to it. You can’t get to this one and there is no grass for the cows to ever get off the concrete. Its placement is wrong, the concrete is wrong, there are lots of things wrong. The Dream Team I assembled five years ago has been disassembled and never included. Lip service is cheap here,” Tanaka directed toward Dolan. He added that the project has taken too long and now there are only about 20 to 25 students that want to show animals, and they have to find places to raise them. 

“Mr. Tanaka is the only one that helps students find barns,” said DHS Senior David Hoffman, who is raising a pig for the May Fair. “He has been my teacher for the past two years, but I’ve known him awhile because his wife was my 4-H Leader. He is the best Ag teacher at the high school.” Hoffman had just returned from a field trip to the Colusa Farm Show with Mr. Tanaka and three other students.

“All of us who grew up in the 70s and 80s have benefitted from the life skills learned in agriculture. Students and families of this community deserve better,” Tanaka said, listing off names such as Robbens, Jones, Raycrafts, Gills, Huffman, Rhonda Rayn, Seiferts and others. 

“I have been told I don’t have access to my own facility,” he told Dolan. “I don’t know what to say. I’m sad and frustrated. I’m feeling broken. I see these as excuses. The only thing I asked for was communication and a little respect. I didn’t get either.”

After the meeting, he was asked about ‘going forward’ and on a tour, pointed to pipes that were too small to handle animal feces, other drainage issues, dangling light fixtures, tattered and exposed insulation, dangerous rises in concrete, splitting asphalt, no place for trailers to turn around, only one exit when the law requires two, and the fact that only one toilet exists hundreds of feet away from where students will be with their animals.

“I should be included in everything from this day forward. We’ve spent $55,000 on a consultant to build that farm wrong,” he said.