5 Seeking Seats on Pomona Board

In the nearby Pomona Unified School District, three incumbents are facing two challengers for three seats. The incumbents are Agnes Moreland Jackson, an English professor at Pitzer College; Ardis S. Guthrie, a homemaker, and Frances M. Livingston, a self-employed occupational therapist.

The challengers are Robert T. Ferrett, chief data processor for the Riverside Unified School District, and Linda M. Stevens, a volunteer worker and former teacher.

Candidates agree that the district’s most pressing need is new schools and all said they would press for more funding from the state.

However, while they agree on the need for new schools, candidates are split over the other major issue in the campaign: whether a voting majority on the school board should continue to control decision-making in the district.

Majority Concept Defended

Incumbents Jackson and Guthrie, both running for second terms, defended their frequent alignment with a third board member, Christine McPeak, to form a majority on some issues. But Guthrie said the majority concept is legitimate and is needed to continue progress in the district.

“There are people who are attempting to change that,” Guthrie said. “But we are happy with the status quo.”

Jackson agreed. Such districtwide improvements as increasing and updating textbooks could not have been made without a decisive board, she said.

“In 1983, when Mrs. McPeak was elected to the board, it allowed us to move forward,” Jackson said. “I believe (a majority) is good. I believe we’ve been a model board.”

Livingston, also up for reelection, disagreed, saying that a majority that agrees to agree most of the time cancels necessary public debate. “Decisions are reached outside the board room,” Livingston said. “I would like to see the board being more responsible and doing business in public.”

‘Board Is Polarized’

Livingston was first elected in 1977 and is running for her third term.

Challenger Ferrett sided with Livingston. “The board is polarized,” he said. “I can see polarization based on issues, but an ongoing polarization is bad. I don’t want to just automatically go along with a particular group on the board.”

Ferrett also said he believes the board spends too much time on trivial matters, such as minutes from previous meetings, and not enough time talking about curriculum and instruction.

The other challenger, Stevens, said the district has a bad image in the community, although the perceptions of a poor curriculum and low educational quality are probably inaccurate. “People get the idea that children are not getting a good education if they go to Garey High School,” Stevens said. “Yet we’re ahead of other districts in meeting the requirements of the state.” Enhancing the school’s public image, she said, would be among her priorities.

Stevens, a former teacher, is the only candidate who has a child in a Pomona elementary school, a fact that she said inspired her to run for her first public office.