9 Seek 3 Torrance School Panel Seats

Nine candidates for three open seats on the Torrance school board in the November elections offer voters a wide range of backgrounds and perspectives on how best to operate a school system.

The candidates and their views range from a college administrator who wants to “go beyond the basics” to develop the thinking abilities of students, to a homemaker who wants the Torrance Unified School District to stop selling surplus school sites and prepare for another baby boom.

But, as one candidate said, “there is a general feeling of well being” in the Torrance school community and the campaign is expected to generate few, if any, controversial issues. The top three vote-getters will win seats.

John Barberis is the only incumbent up for reelection. Trustees Doris Casstevens and Fumiko Wasserman, citing personal and family reasons, chose to step down after completing their terms on the board this year. Holdover members are board President Owen H. Griffith and Trustee David Sargent.

Barberis, 42, a Los Angeles County deputy probation officer, said inadequate funding, an impending shortage of qualified new teachers and further improvements in curriculum are among his major concerns.

“Every year we ask for more money, but what we get is still short of what we need for things like repairing buildings and replacing obsolete equipment,” Barberis said. “It’s critical that we find an adequate, stable method of funding the schools.”

More money for salaries, along with aggressive promotion of the teaching profession at the college level, will be needed to ensure an adequate supply of new teachers, he said.

Barberis said he feels he has “grown and matured as a trustee while learning to work with a wide diversity of people” during his first term as a board member. Among key accomplishments of the present board, he said, were renovations at North High School, expansion of classroom computer education and energy conservation programs at the district’s four high schools.

William R. Blischke, 45, director of institutional research at California State University, Dominguez Hills, offered his 17 years as a college teacher and administrator, along with four years on the Redondo Beach school board in the late 1970s, as his background and experience for service on the Torrance board.

Blischke moved from Redondo Beach to Torrance in 1979 and he and his wife, Sharon, have two children in Torrance schools.

School reforms begun in recent years have been a step in the right direction, Blischke said, but too often the emphasis is on learning basic subjects by rote. Schools must now “go beyond the basics” to produce the kind of “sophisticated work force that our country will need to compete successfully with Japan and other nations in an information age.”

That can be accomplished by further strengthening of science, math and computer programs and by using teaching techniques that require students to ponder the meaning of ideas and facts, he said.

Blischke said his work on a district committee studying enrollment trends indicates that Torrance’s school population is leveling off, but no baby boom is in sight. Still, he said, the district should be “very careful about closing and selling schools because we may need them in the future.”

Ann Gallagher, 45, who has been prominent in school and community volunteer organizations for many years, claims the endorsement of numerous public officials in her first bid for elective office. She taught in an Atlanta high school before moving with her family to Torrance 16 years ago.

She and her husband, Martin, a federal employee, have one son in a local high school and two others who have gone on to college. Gallagher said her work in school organizations and regular attendance at board meetings have given her the experience and knowledged needed to serve effectively as a trustee.

Gallagher said her priorities include reducing class size, encouraging more citizen participation, better funding and more local control.

John A. Maul, 31, an electrical engineer and Ohio native, moved to Torrance three years ago to take a job with TRW. He and his wife, Dona, have a 2-year-old son.

Maul said his desire to help promote better science and math training in high schools prompted him to run for the local board. “I realize that the school must deal with many problems and priorities,” he said, “but certainly we must give more attention to math and science if we are going to keep up with the Russians and Japanese.”

Public confidence in the schools is the key to solving the problem of inadequate funding, he said. “As people become more aware of improvements, they will see to it that the schools get enough money,” he said.

Barbara Bender-St. John, 32, a homemaker and freelance photographer, said her concerns about school closures and overdevelopment inspired her to “get in there and have my say, instead of just sitting back and complaining about what’s happening.”

She and her husband, Dale, operator of a limousine service, have two children, ages 2 and 3. “My kids are part of the baby boom and when they get to school age, I don’t want them to be packed into overcrowded classrooms,” she said. “But that’s the problem we’ll have if we keep selling schools.”

A north Torrance resident most of her life, Bender-St. John said her candidacy has surprised older friends and acquaintances “who still think of me as a kid and wonder how I can be old enough to be running for the school board.”

At 37, Suzanne G. Distaso, a technical writer, is a veteran of political campaigns, including an unsuccessful race as the Democratic candidate for Republican Sen. Robert G. Beverly’s 29th District seat last year.

“I’ve been involved for 20 years or so in trying to make this a better world by ending war and hunger and things like that,” Distaso said. She said that as a school trustee she would work for programs designed to improve the “confidence and self-esteem” of students, particularly in the early grades.

Library skills, which can give students better access to knowledge, also should be taught at the elementary level, she said. Distaso and her husband, John, a chemist, have two daughters in high school.

Charles S. Mashburn, 69, started his printing business in Gardena in 1936 and moved to north Torrance about 30 years ago. He and his wife, Nina, have a grown son who attended local school.

Mashburn said that with his retirement this year he will have time to devote to public service. As a board member, he said, he would put an even stronger emphasis on basic education.

“I think it’s a crime that we have high school graduates who can’t read or write,” Mashburn said. “These kids come around looking for a job, but they have to get their mothers to help them fill out the application.”

Carol O’Brien, 38, is a homemaker who has been active in school and community volunteer organizations. She has attended board meetings regularly and has served on several district committees.

O’Brien and her husband, Joseph, a factory technician, have lived in west Torrance for 10 years and have two sons in local schools. “I believe I have a good working knowledge of the district and its problems and opportunities,” O’Brien said.

She said her goals as a board member would b to promote more community involvement in the schools, work for more state funding and try to restore some of the programs that have been cut in recent years. Using or adapting new state curriculum models also will be a big job awaiting the new trustees, she said.

Ann M. Thomas, a credit union teller, could not be reached through the telephone number and address appearing on the county Registrar-Recorder’s official list of qualified candidates.