Had Issue and Used It, Says Santa Ana School Winner

Conservative Mary J. Pryer had an issue and knew how to use it, she said after grabbing 28% of the vote in a stunning victory that helped reelect fellow conservative James A. Richards to the Santa Ana Unified School District board.

Incumbents Pryer and Richards, who ran as a slate, fought off challenges from retired police lieutenant Robert B. Palmer and two Mexican-Americans, Emilio De La Cruz and Louisa Solis.

Pryer received 2,970 votes and Richards 2,358, according to unofficial results Wednesday.

Palmer, who won endorsements from the board’s liberals, had 1,849 votes. De La Cruz came in fourth with 1,496 and Solis was fifth with 1,197.

During the election, Pryer didn’t soft-pedal the fact that she was the board’s major architect of the school district’s 10-year-old fundamental school system, a key issue in her reelection.

At debates and campaign talks, she often told residents that in addition to supporting quality education, she advocated fundamental schools and their expansion.

“I think we relied on our record and the fact that we had a body of support. I have a feeling that it was pretty much the same support that we’ve had in the past,” Pryer said in an interview Wednesday.

Many parent activists have enrolled their children in the district’s three fundamental schools. The schools embrace the back-to-basics trend and stress discipline and patriotism. The schools have no attendance areas, and transportation is not provided.

While other Orange County school district elections seemed to sway toward politically liberal boards, Santa Ana’s remained the same.

In fact, with Pryer winning her fourth four-year-term and Richards his second, the two said they might now begin working to get a new board majority in the next election in 1987.

Pryer said she stuck to an easy formula that stressed quality education and fundamental schools.

“I should point out,” she said, “the people who were running against me were trying to unseat incumbents, and they really didn’t have the issue to unseat. If you’re trying to unseat someone, you have to make a case against the incumbent.”

Pryer and Richards acknowledged that Santa Ana Unified faces problems such as overcrowding, a high dropout rate and low academic achievement.

“But the candidates didn’t have any better solutions than we had,” Pryer said.

3 Often Vote as Bloc

The five-member school board includes President Joan Wilkinson and members James Ward and Sadie Reid, who often vote as a bloc. All three are up for reelection in two years.

For years, Latino residents have wanted to help elect a Mexican-American and bring more ethnic representation to the board that oversees a school district population that is almost three-fourths Latino.

Minorities compose about 84% of the district’s 36,200 students.

De La Cruz and Solis could not explain their poor showing or why the anticipated Latino voter support failed to emerge.

‘Can’t Get Them Out’

“I don’t know why we can’t get them out,” De La Cruz said. “I just don’t know how to figure this whole thing out.”

He said 50,000 flyers were distributed by about 75 volunteers who included parents, relatives and teachers.

De La Cruz and Solis were the only candidates among a field of seven who supported a form of bilingual education. But it may have worked against them, they said.

“I think people got scared when they saw that I was pro-bilingual education,” De La Cruz said. “I wanted to help the high dropout rate too.”

A low voter turnout also helped the incumbents, Solis said, particularly Pryer, whose support was “well-established.”