Rouzan Isn’t Among 5 Filing for Inglewood Schools Seat

Five candidates have filed for the June 7 special election to fill one of two vacancies on the Inglewood school board.

They include former board candidate Larry Aubry; community activist Terry Coleman; former board member and mayoral candidate W. R. (Tony) Draper; former board candidate William (Bill) Gill; and former candidate Mildred McNair.

Notably absent from the candidates who met the Friday afternoon filing deadline was former Inglewood Police Chief Joseph Rouzan, who was appointed to the board last November after the death of board member Ernest Shaw.

Rouzan’s appointment was nullified when community groups, angered by the closed meetings and other secretive aspects of the appointment process, launched a petition drive to force the special election. The term expires in April of next year.

Strong Candidate

Rouzan had previously said he planned to run in June. He was considered a strong candidate because of his career in police and city administration and his good relationship with area political leaders.

But in a recent interview, Rouzan said he was disgusted by the turmoil on the board. He said he will wait and decide later whether to run in the Nov. 8 special election for the second board vacancy, which was caused by the abrupt resignation last month of board member Rosemary Benjamin. (Her departure came too late for the June 7 ballot.)

Pointing out that the board has been reduced to two members because of the two vacancies and the absence of board member Caroline Coleman (no relation to Terry Coleman) who is recovering from surgery, Rouzan said: “I’m not sure it’s the appropriate time. I don’t look forward to getting onto a board with two members. Right now the board is running the school district rather than the superintendent and staff. I don’t think it’s clear to some of the board members what their role is.”

Contract Extended

Rouzan was among those who criticized board members Lois Hill-Hale and Zyra McCloud for taking advantage of Benjamin’s resignation last month to push through a two-year contract extension for Supt. Rex Fortune, whose contract was to expire in June. Caroline Coleman and others opposed the move, blaming Fortune for district problems including a $900,000 budget deficit.

The debate over Fortune and the larger issue of board accountability will be prominent in the campaign, candidates said. The school board is viewed as a springboard into area politics, and it has been the scene of battles between factions aligned with city political leaders including Mayor Edward Vincent, Assemblyman Curtis Tucker (D-Inglewood) and Sen. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles).

Draper, who lost to Hill-Hale in June, has been outspoken in charging that board members are more concerned with political agendas than with educating the district’s mostly black and Latino students. The 45-year-old Hughes engineer ran against Vincent for mayor in 1986, and he has chastised Hill-Hale and McCloud for spending thousands of dollars on travel to conferences while the district is in a financial crisis.

Draper said he hopes to provide an independent and fiscally responsible force on the board. “Right now there is no one to monitor the board members,” Draper said. “They need more monitoring than the administrators.”

Aubry, 54, a Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission consultant who writes a column for the Los Angeles Sentinel, ran unsuccessfully for the board in 1983. He said raising test scores for Inglewood students and improving the district’s relationship with the community would be among his priorities.

“A key thing in this whole business is accountability,” said Aubry. “We have to reduce the distrust between the citizens and the board.”

Gill, 46, a construction inspector for the City of Long Beach and president of the Morningside High School Parent-Teacher-Student Assn., criticized financial waste in the district. He said that during his brief tenure as Inglewood school district maintenance supervisor he implemented effective cost-cutting measures.

Coleman, 45, a 17-year veteran of the Los Angeles city and airport police, is on disability leave. He formed Concerned Citizens of Inglewood this year and spearheaded the petition drive to force the special election. He said fighting gangs and drugs in the school system would be his top objective.

“I’m going to give it my best shot with a limited amount of money,” Coleman said of his decision to run.

McNair has made several bids for the school board and recently ran unsuccessfully for the board of trustees of El Camino College. She could not be reached for comment.