West Valley School Race Is a Low-Key Affair

Looking at the handful of people sitting in the sanctuary of Temple Judea last week, Robert J. Worth, one of seven candidates running to represent the West San Fernando Valley on the Los Angeles school board, slyly said to his opponents, “There may be more candidates here than people.”

By the time the candidates’ forum sponsored by the temple began, the people in the audience outnumbered the candidates on the stage--but not by many. Similar audiences appeared for the half a dozen other forums held in the race to replace board member Tom Bartman, who decided not to run for a second four-year term.

As the campaign enters its final days before next Tuesday’s primary election, more West Valley residents will get to know the candidates as the campaign shifts from a moveable feast of words at community forums to a direct-mail campaign by several of the candidates.

The mailings, however, won’t give voters a sense of the campaign, which has been low-key and, at least at the final candidates’ forum, somewhat congenial.

In fact, the spark in several of the candidates’ campaigns--West Valley residents’ anger over the closing of under-enrolled schools--was effectively snuffed out early in the going when the school board accepted an advisory committee’s recommendations to place a moratorium on further school closures.

Few Controversial Topics

With that issue gone and with only a possibility of a renewed lawsuit over the desegregation of district schools, which is another emotional issue in the West Valley, the seven candidates were left with few controversial topics to to separate themselves from the rest of the pack.

Each candidate received polite applause from the hardy few who ventured out to hear them speak. But it is virtually impossible to determine which one has the momentum as they head toward election day. There have been no published nonpartisan polls conducted that would indicate which candidate is favored by voters.

The candidates are David Armor, 46, a former Rand Corp. analyst; Betty Blake, 56, a community education volunteer; Carolyn Brent, 61, a former Los Angeles school teacher; Elizabeth Ginsburg, 60, a government and history teacher at Chatsworth High School; Claude Parrish, 37, a former leasing agent for ABC Entertainment Center in Century City; Carie Vacar, 38, a former Los Angeles teacher and chairman of Valley Organization for Improved Childhood Education (VOICE), and Robert Worth, 34, an adult education training specialist with Farmers Insurance Co.

Some of the candidates were, however, more successful at grabbing on to what issues there were than others.

Blake, for example, drew some headlines and caught the attention of her opponents when she demanded that they all sign a “Commitment to Stay and Serve” pledge. Blake said the pledge was needed because in 1975, 1977 and 1979 “fully two-thirds of the school board members” either were elected to higher office or ran unsuccessfully for another office. Besides, two of the candidates--Armor and Parrish--have already run for Congress. In 1982, Armor unsuccessfully challenged Rep. Anthony Beilenson, (D-Tarzana) and, in 1984, Parrish also failed to defeat Beilenson.

All the candidates except for Parrish signed the Blake statement.

Armor and Parrish had also been asked to sign pledges that they would serve a full four-year term on the school board when they sought the endorsement of the conservative California Republican Assembly. Once again, Armor signed the pledge and Parrish declined.

Armor said he also signed a personal “stay-and-serve” pledge for board member Roberta Weintraub. In turn, Weintraub as well as Bartman endorsed Armor.

Beside this off-stage scuffling, most of the candidates’ time was spent at sparsely attended forums, speaking to small, Valley-based political clubs and repeating their stands on a variety of education topics.

Vacar helped organize VOICE, which opposes closure of underenrolled schools. Since that issue has been neutralized for the moment, she has focused her campaign on other local issues, such as parents and teachers who are frustrated by a lack of supplies, adequate counseling services and proper nursing staffs at some Valley schools.

The former teacher also complained about what she viewed as “mismanagement” of district finances and pledged to establish a committee to review the district’s budgets.

Brent, who was a teacher in Los Angeles public schools for 27 years, said she wants to have schools where “children come with zest . . . where teachers are well-prepared . . . where lessons are followed up with encouragement.”

Brent also said she would like to see child-care centers attached to every elementary school and have supervision available at school sites from early morning until 6 p.m.

Throughout the campaign, Chatsworth High teacher Ginsburg stressed her role as “an insider,” which she said gives her a better view of district policies. She was the only school board candidate to be endorsed by the United Teachers of Los Angeles, the district’s largest teachers union.

Repeatedly, Ginsburg emphasized the need to reduce the size of classes, to improve what she said are deteriorating conditions at school grounds and improve counseling services by reducing the number of students assigned to each counselor.

Armor said he would like to expand district expulsion policy, which calls for automatic expulsion for possession of drugs, weapons or striking a teacher, to include participation in illegal gang activities and serious acts of vandalism. He also said he would like to explore the getting neighboring school districts to educate students from crowded Los Angeles district schools.

Armor also pledged to open a West Valley field office, although the district has never made any monetary provisions for board members to have a staff or to open field offices. In addition, Armor said he would work for the establishment of alternative schools for junior high students who have been expelled or suspended from their regular campuses for disciplinary reasons. These so-called “continuation” schools already exist for senior high students.

Blake called for support of State Superintendent of Schools Bill Honig and Los Angeles School District Supt. Harry Handler in their efforts to raise standards to improve teaching programs. She also talked of the need for “early intervention,” that is making sure that counselors, special education programs and testing are available at the elementary school level so that children who do not keep up with school work or who may develop problems in later academic years are identified and given extra help if needed.

Blake promised to ask two questions before making any decision on district policy matters--”How does this affect kids in school? How does it affect education?”--before taking a stand on any issue that might come before the school board.

Parrish said he hoped to start an internship program to alleviate the district’s high dropout rate and introduct students to careers and job opportunities.

Parrish said his solution to the shortage of low-cost, dependable day care would be to encourage senior citizens to volunteer to serve as teachers and advisers for children who need supervised early-morning and late-afternoon care at school sites.