Losers in Oak Park Can Seek Appointment

Losers in Tuesday’s Oak Park Unified School District election in Agoura will get a second chance at a Board of Education seat, according to school officials.

The two candidates who fail to collect enough votes to win one of the three seats can ask to be appointed to a fourth vacancy on the five-member panel, officials said.

A district spokesman said Carolyn Benjamin-Thompson has resigned from the board to move with her family to Big Bear Lake. But because she decided to quit too late to have her seat included on this week’s ballot, other board members will fill her unexpired two-year term with a provisional appointment, the spokesman said.

Any registered voter who lives in the 1,500-home Oak Park district and submits a letter of 200 words or less to the district by noon on Nov. 18 will be considered, Supt. Dan Thompson said.

In Tuesday’s voting, two incumbents, Richard Daley, a financial planner, and David Ross, a computer analyst, are running. The three challengers are James Kalember, an engineering manager; Patricia Kavulic, a homemaker, and Roger Wakefield, an educator.

In addition to choosing a replacement for Benjamin-Thompson, the the new board will soon have to handle the increased enrollment expected with the planned construction of 600 homes in the community.

Oak Park enrollment now totals about 1,050, the superintendent said.