School Board, College Trustee Vacancies Stir Lukewarm Voter, Candidate Interest

Three seats on the Los Angeles Board of Education and three spots on the Los Angeles Community College Board of Trustees will be filled by city voters on Tuesday--a fact that has drawn little attention from local politicians and even less from the voters.

In the West San Fernando Valley, voters will select a school board member to replace Tom Bartman, but the candidates there--seven in all--have on occasion almost outnumbered the audience at campaign forums.

Meanwhile, the two board incumbents--Roberta Weintraub in the East Valley and Alan Gershman in West Los Angeles--have faced only a single, relatively unknown opponent. Since compulsory busing was ended in the Los Angeles school district in 1981, the school board elections have been less charged, and a recent survey of district residents found that most were generally pleased with the schools.

The same cannot be said for students at the nine Los Angeles community colleges, many of whom have complained about reduced classes, dirty hallways, higher costs and a bungled financial aid system.

But the three incumbents on the Board of Trustees have countered that the state, not the college district itself, is responsible for the students’ plight. Since 1978, the colleges have lost 25% of their purchasing power, according to the trustees. This, along with the state-imposed $50-per-semester fee, has contributed to a huge enrollment drop in the two-year colleges, from 136,000 in 1981 to 91,000 this spring.

Incumbents Arthur Bronson, Wallace Albertson and Lindsay Conner are running districtwide for another term on the board, contending that they are managing as well as possible during a period of crisis.

Bronson is opposed by Sandy Blixton, a writer and community organizer; Richard E. Ferraro, former member of the Los Angeles school board, and perennial candidate Howard Watts, who identifies himself as a disabled veteran.

Conner is opposed by Jack Ballas, an assistant city attorney; Kendra M. Cole, a technical instructor; Joseph F. Kehoe, an education reporter; Kenneth Palmer, a senior citizens representative; Jerry Zerg, a teacher, and Clydell Hill, a public relations consultant.

Albertson faces education professor Julia Catherine Wrigley.

On Friday, the Los Angeles Collegiate Council, which represents student leaders at the nine colleges, endorsed Ferraro in his race against Bronson. The group also endorsed Wrigley over Albertson. The only incumbent to get the student group’s endorsement was Conner.

In the races for the Los Angeles school board, the quietest campaign has taken place on the Westside, where issues range from alteration of ethnic ratios at four schools to how to accommodate students from overcrowded schools. Incumbent Gershman has only token opposition from aerospace computer programmer John Honigsfeld.

Second Full Term

Weintraub, who is seeking her second full term on the board, is opposed by education consultant Mary Louise Longoria. The diverse district is experiencing overcrowded conditions in largely minority schools and a revival of interest and enrollment in the predominantly white areas near Ventura Boulevard.

Issues in the contest to replace Bartman include school closures, child care at school sites and how to reverse the dropout rate. The candidates are David Armor, education consultant; Betty Blake, community education volunteer; Carolyn Brent, former teacher; Elizabeth Ginsburg, teacher; Claude Parrish, business executive; Carie Vacar, former teacher, and Robert J. Worth, education administrator.

Some controversy has arisen over two Armor campaign mailings implying endorsements he has not received. The first features a photograph of Armor talking with President Reagan and urges readers to “choose the candidate President Reagan has chosen to restore quality education to our schools.” Armor concedes that Reagan has not endorsed him, saying the headline refers to his 1983 appointment to the National Council on Educational Research.

The second, a one-page ballot recommendation aimed at Democrats, implies incorrectly that Armor has been endorsed by Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner, state Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp and state Controller Kenneth Cory.