5 Challengers’ Final Shots at Korenstein Have Familiar Theme

Challengers, who after weeks of campaigning have finally polished their pitch to voters, Thursday seized their last opportunity to criticize Los Angeles school board member Julie Korenstein face-to-face before the election Tuesday.

The five challengers, who are seeking to replace Korenstein as the West San Fernando Valley representative on the seven-member Los Angeles Board of Education, continued to voice criticism of district policies such as bilingual education, voluntary busing and a counseling program for gay and lesbian students.

And Korenstein, who is seeking a full four-year term after 20 months in office, continued to defend those programs. Although she told the 30 people who attended the candidates forum at the Germain Street Elementary School in Chatsworth that she is “starting to shake things up” at the district, Korenstein acknowledged that when she sought the office in 1987, she made criticisms similar to those her challengers now voice, attacking the status quo.

“It’s getting wearing,” Korenstein said of campaigning as an incumbent.

But the often harsh words and criticism are a sharp contrast to the joking and small talk that the candidates share among themselves before the forums and during breaks.

Speaking Skills Honed

After speaking at panels together over the past weeks, the candidates have honed their messages to fit the three minutes given for introductory remarks. Once nervous and inexperienced speakers, the challengers now, for example, have come to recognize that criticism of Project 10, the gay counseling program, will almost always win applause from West Valley voters, and they pause with precise timing for the expected reaction.

Candidates Barbara Romey and Gerald Horowitz are appealing to conservative voters and say they are hopeful that they will force Korenstein into a run-off.

Romey, a former accountant, lost to Korenstein in a 1987 run-off election to fill the two years remaining in former school board member David Armor’s term.

Horowitz, formerly principal of Frost Junior High School in Granada Hills, has rallied parents there who were angry over his transfer last summer to a school in Sun Valley.

Korenstein has outspent all of her challengers and will likely raise more than $100,000 before election day. Much of her support comes from teachers and the United Teachers-Los Angeles, the teachers union.

UTLA sponsored an open house at James Monroe High School in Sepulveda Thursday night, an event where parents were invited to meet their children’s teachers and were then asked to vote for Korenstein.

“We definitely want to win over the parents,” Monroe math teacher Jenni Marple said.

Also running for the West Valley seat are Cliff Stadig, Dauna Packer and Michael Kaliczak.