Diet Contest at Chatsworth High : School’s Staff Weighs In for Losing Battle

Forty Chatsworth High School staff members proved Wednesday that they carry as much weight outside the classroom as they do inside.

More than 3 1/2 tons of teachers, coaches and clerks massed in two teams at a recycling center’s truck scale to weigh in and start a two-month diet contest. The group shedding the most weight will be treated to an end-of-the-school-year potluck lunch by the losing team.

“Students aren’t involved. This isn’t a fund-raiser or anything,” said Merceda Martin, a French teacher and counselor. “This is just among us. We just want to lose weight because summer’s coming.”

Diane DiFonzo, a campus computer operator, said she wants to help her team win the contest because “I’m just three feet too short for my weight.”

But there were a few last-minute things to be done before team members from “Dorothy’s Dumplings” and “Ed’s Epicureans” assembled separately on the 70-foot scale.

Martin split a final candy bar with counselor Betty Jorgensen. Another counselor, Loretta Ditlow, wolfed down a large quesadilla. “These are so warm and filling. And high in calories. I’ll miss them,” Ditlow confessed.

Team captain Ed Ash, who teaches handicapped students, shuffled awkwardly toward the scale until opposing team captain Dorothy Rennpferd, pulled open his jacket. Hidden under the coat was a collection of heavy combination locks strung around Ash’s neck.

“What’s this?” Rennpferd, Chatsworth High’s secretary, asked with a laugh.

“Well, what’s this ?” snickered Ash, reaching into Rennpferd’s coat pocket and pulling out a heavy marble paperweight.

Special education teacher Gail Aldrich showed up wearing a thick ingot necklace. “It was so heavy that she told me she had to take it off today to work,” said Jean Williams, assistant principal.

The discoveries prompted mock cries of outrage from other team members. Fat chance such trickery would be tolerated.

When the school workers finally assembled on the scales, the results were weighty, to say the least.

Ash’s 18 contestants hit 3,160 pounds, and Rennpferd’s 22 teammates topped out at 3,980 pounds.