Ex-Member Bartman Will Ask for School Board Post

Former Los Angeles Board of Education member Tom Bartman announced Wednesday he will ask the board to appoint him to the West San Fernando Valley seat vacated last month when David Armor resigned.

Armor, who resigned to take a Defense Department job, was elected to the board last year after Bartman decided not to run for reelection,

Earlier this week, the board decided the quickest and cheapest way to fill Armor’s vacancy was to appoint someone until a special election that would coincide with city elections in June, 1987.

“I think I can be of service to my district and to the West Valley,” Bartman said. “I know the importance of the decisions that will be coming to the board in the next year and I think my presence can make a difference.”

Bartman was the attorney for Bustop, the anti-mandatory busing organization, when he was first elected to the school board in 1980 to fill an unexpired term. He won a full term the next year.

When he bowed out last year, Bartman said the job had become too time-consuming. He said he originally thought the post “would be an avocation not a vocation.”

Reacting to Bartman’s announcement, a spokesman for Elizabeth Ginsburg, who is currently out of the country, said she still plans a vigorous effort to get the appointment.

George St. Johns, an administrative aide for state Sen. Ed Davis (R-Valencia) who announced last week he would seek to replace Armor, said he believes a majority of the board members have already made up their minds to appoint Bartman.