Oak Park School Panel Swears In 3 Members

Agoura’s Oak Park Unified School District welcomed 75% of its new Board of Education on Tuesday night as three winners of last month’s school board campaign were sworn in.

But the fourth trustee--an appointee who will complete the unexpired term of a board member member who has resigned--will not be eligible to take her seat until next month.

Patricia Kavulic, an unsuccessful candidate in the Nov. 5 election, has been picked by the school board to complete the term of Carolyn Benjamin-Thompson. Kavulic’s two-year appointment will not become official until Dec. 26.

That gives Oak Park voters time to file a request with Ventura County for a special election if they are unhappy with the appointment of Kavulic, district officials said.

Oaths were administered Tuesday to incumbents Richard Daley and David Ross and newcomer Roger Wakefield, who edged out Kavulic by 36 votes to win a four-year term. At the meeting, board member Kathy Huber was selected as president, Ross as vice president and Wakefield as clerk.

District officials said Kavulic will take office Jan. 7 unless an appeal of her appointment is signed by about 35 voters--1.5% of the electorate--and sent to county election administrators. Five people, including the sixth-place finisher in last month’s election, have applied to complete Benjamin-Thompson’s term.

The 1,040-student Oak Park district serves a 1,600-home community in a Ventura County valley at the north end of Kanan Road.