10 Candidates Begin Scramble for 2 Open Seats on School Board

The scramble is on for the two open seats on the Los Angeles Board of Education.

On the Eastside, three candidates are attempting to succeed Larry Gonzalez, and for two of the contestants, the favorite target in the race is the incumbent who is not seeking reelection.

In the West San Fernando Valley, where the contest is to fill the final two years of an unexpired term, seven candidates are trying to build name recognition among voters by aligning themselves with well-known political and community leaders.

In either race, if no candidate wins a majority of votes on April 14, the two top vote-getters will hold a runoff in June. In addition to the two open seats, three incumbent schoolboard members are up for reelection.

Some of the issues the candidates face in the two open districts transcend geography. Everyone wants to know their stands on teacher salary hikes, Gov. George Deukmejian’s budget proposals and what they would do to alleviate crowding on some campuses.

Generally, the candidates are in agreement on these matters: The school system should do all it can to raise teacher salaries and make teaching a more attractive profession; the governor’s austere 1987-88 budget spells trouble for Los Angeles schools, and school spending should be increased; school construction should be accelerated to reduce overcrowding, and year-round calendars should be adopted only as a last resort.

Once past these system-wide issues, the candidates in each of the election districts have been focusing on local matters to gain favor with the voters.

In the race in District 5, a largely Latino Eastside district, Raul Ruiz, 44, a professor at California State University, Northridge, and Frank Tamayo, 47, a dean of students at Jefferson High School, have made strong attacks against Gonzalez, who earlier this year gave up his seat for an unsuccessful bid to join the Los Angeles City Council.

“I said that if Larry Gonzalez was elected, the problems in this district wouldn’t change,” said Ruiz, who ran against Gonzalez in 1983. “Sure enough, things are still the same. We still have overcrowded conditions, our district still is not receiving its fair share of money and our students are still being short-changed.”

Tamayo, meanwhile, said that he has concluded while working as an administrator in the school system that Gonzalez’s “leadership did not live up to my hopes.”

“Mediocrity in representation has no place in this district,” Tamayo said at a gathering of Mt. Washington homeowners. “Our goal in this district must be quality education. We must be certain that this goal does not run second to political ambitions.”

While her opponents slug it out with non-candidate Gonzalez, Leticia Quezada, 32, a trustee of the Los Angeles Community College District, is portraying herself as the person who is already taking action on behalf of the schools.

When Mt. Washington homeowners asked Quezada what she would do to restore proposed cuts to the state education budget, she quickly responded: “It’s not what I would do, it is what I am doing.” She then described a trip she had recently taken to the state Capitol where she lobbied legislators to restore cuts made by the governor.

And in a recent appearance before the United Neighborhoods Organization, a politically potent Eastside community group, Quezada assured herself of a warm welcome with the announcement that her employer, Carnation Co., had pledged $5,000 to UNO to help with start-up costs for the UNO-backed Genesis Project. Under the Genesis plan, each year 1,500 seniors from six inner-city high schools are to be assured of jobs upon graduation through a joint effort involving the schools, area businesses, UNO and a sister community group, the South-Central Organizing Committee.

Quezada also enjoys the support of many members of the Eastside political establishment. Ruiz, meanwhile, has built a broad base of support by being active in community affairs for most of his adult life. More so than Tamayo, these two candidates appear to have the financial backing to mount high-visibility campaigns in the two weeks remaining before the election.

Out in the West Valley’s District 4, where a June runoff seems a very likely prospect, the seven candidates have started elbowing each other for recognition by lining up endorsements. This strategy has had some surprising results in the early part of the campaign.

Bunny Field, 45, a professional political fund-raiser who has worked closely with school board member Roberta Weintraub, has been endorsed by Weintraub and two other board members, Alan Gershman and Tom Bartman. This powerful alliance, however, has unnerved some West Valley residents and has prompted some of Field’s opponents to contend that the school board represents “downtown interests” out to sabotage Valley schools.

Crossed signals between George St. Johns, 48, a former aide to Sen. Ed Davis (R-Valencia), and Betty Blake, a longtime West Valley PTA leader, led to Blake’s name being listed among St. Johns’ endorsements.

Upset by the mistake, Blake called Valley news media outlets to say she had not endorsed St. Johns. She said that she asked him to send a retraction to all the voters who had received mailers listing her name as a supporter. Blake’s telephone calls were quickly followed by calls from St. Johns, who acknowledged the mistaken endorsement, and at a recent candidates forum St. Johns opened his speech with an apology to Blake.

Julie Korenstein, 43, has lined up endorsements that would indicate she is the liberal candidate. Among her supporters are United Teachers-Los Angeles, the union that represents Los Angeles teachers; the Los Angeles Democratic Party (including a personal endorsement from Mayor Tom Bradley).

Barbara Romey, 39, an accountant who was a leader in the opposition movement against expanding the number of year-round schools, has been meticulous in lining up conservative supporters. So far she has garnered endorsements from former congresswoman Bobbi Fiedler, Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson, and Assemblywoman Marian LaFollette (R-Northridge).

But to these conservative backers, Romey has added one surprising name--Lisa Specht, a lawyer and television commentator with close ties to liberal Westside political organizations. All of this jostling for endorsements has led candidate Mark Isler, 39, to run a series of small newspaper ads stating that he is “Endorsed by the people--not by the politicians.”

Sitting out the endorsement game have been candidates Marilynn Neville and Douglas J. Wolf. Neville, 52, is a teacher at a Catholic school whose campaign has been based on opposition to the school system’s pilot program to set up school health clinics that, among other services, will provide contraceptives and information about birth control.

Wolf, 34, a lawyer, has built his campaign around a promise to keep close ties with the community if he is elected. He says he will recruit a panel of voters, parents and other residents to advise him.