Inglewood School Board President Died Saturday : Coleman’s Name to Stay on Runoff Ballot

Despite the death of Inglewood school board President Caroline Coleman, the June 6 runoff election to fill her seat will proceed with her name on the ballot, city officials said Wednesday.

A school board member for 10 years, Coleman died at her home Saturday after a long illness. She had missed the last four board meetings and had made no campaign appearances but still managed to win 44% of the vote in the April 4 primary.

Coleman, 51, had been ill for more than a year but refused to disclose the nature of her illness. School board sources and Coleman associates, however, said she had cancer.

Coleman’s name will appear on the June ballot along with that of attorney Thomasina Reed, who won 26% of the vote in the primary, officials said.

If Coleman wins the runoff election, school district officials will be required to declare the seat vacant and may either appoint someone to the board or call a special election, said Jack Ballas, chief assistant city attorney.

If Reed wins, she will get the seat, Ballas said.

After reviewing provisions in the City Charter and the state Elections Code, city officials decided to go ahead with the election and to order ballots printed with Coleman’s name on them, Ballas said.

The city’s decision was “based in large part on provisions in the Elections Code,” Ballas said. “Our City Charter defers to the state Elections Code in controlling city elections, and there are provisions in the Elections Code which indicate that when a candidate dies in a runoff, the election is to continue as is.”

Reed, an attorney, said keeping Coleman’s name on the ballot will be a burden to her campaign effort because “there will be many people who will not know she is dead.”

“We face the possibility that, even in death, she may win, as in the Curtis Tucker case,” Reed said. Tucker, a state assemblyman from Inglewood, was reelected last November, weeks after his death from cancer. His seat was later filled by his son Curtis Tucker Jr., who won a special election.

Reed said she wants to ensure that voters “understand that (Coleman) is no longer with us, and there would be no point in voting for her.”

Reed said she will send a letter to voters advising them of Coleman’s death and stressing the need to fill the board position before school budget deliberations begin this summer.

“There may be a movement to reelect her, to force a special election and keep me from winning,” Reed said. “Caroline had many, many friends, and people may feel as a memorial tribute to her, reelecting her may be the thing to do. It would be detrimental to the school system were they to vote for her at this time.”

Jewett Walker, who won 19% of the vote in the April primary, said he hoped for a Coleman victory in June because that would resurrect his chance of winning a school board seat if a special election is called.

“In effect, a vote for Caroline Coleman is a vote for me,” Walker said.

Walker said the city’s decision is an effort to avoid the cost of a special election, but he added that such an election may be necessary anyway if Coleman wins.

“If it’s the law, it’s the law,” Walker said. “However, I think it’s ridiculous. If Caroline Coleman is reelected posthumously, then they’re going to have a special election or an appointment anyway, and I think the board is gun-shy on appointments.”

Illegalities Alleged

In 1987, Coleman and two other board members appointed Joseph Rouzan to a board vacancy caused by a trustee’s death, despite protests that the appointment came after the board held an illegal closed meeting and illegally withheld information from the public about the appointment. The appointment was annulled as a result of a petition drive, and Rouzan then won a special election.

Emanuel Gary, who drew 10% of the vote in April, said he does not plan to mount another try for a school board seat until 1990, even if Coleman wins and a special election is held.

Nevertheless, Gary said he would “not campaign for Thomasina Reed under any circumstances.”

Meanwhile, district flags were being flown at half-staff Wednesday while city and school board officials mourned Coleman’s death.

A county probation officer, Coleman was appointed to the board in 1977, later winning election to two terms by decisive margins.

She first became controversial in 1985, when she was charged with felony misuse of public funds in connection with reimbursements for a trip to a New Orleans conference that she allegedly did not attend. Criminal charges against her were dismissed, and the board did not pursue a civil case.

Voted for Firing

Also in 1985, Coleman was one of three board members who voted to fire then-Supt. Rex Fortune. Fortune accused Coleman and other board members of approving his dismissal because he did not appoint a friend of the mayor’s as a school principal. Fortune was later rehired, and the mayor’s friend, Vivian Shannon, was appointed principal of Centinela Elementary School.

Fortune resigned from the district last July to take a superintendent’s job in the Sacramento area. He was replaced by Supt. George McKenna in October.

Despite those difficulties, Coleman was remembered with respect and affection by those who worked with her--and some who campaigned against her in previous elections.

“She’s the reason I got involved in politics,” said Mayor Edward Vincent, a staunch Coleman ally. “She got me involved. She was committed to spending her life trying to help kids.”

Activity Encouraged

Vincent said he met Coleman in 1969 when both were county probation officers, and she encouraged him to become active in Inglewood politics.

Community activist Mildred McNair, who ran against Coleman in previous school board elections, said she planned to circulate a petition to have Monroe Junior High School renamed in Coleman’s honor.

“She did a lot of good in Inglewood,” McNair said.

School board members said Coleman would be missed because she had “far and away the most experience on the board”--more than the remaining board members combined.

The other four board members each have served less than two years. Rouzan won a special election last November, and Larry Aubry was elected last June to fill the term of former board member Ernest Shaw, who died in 1987. The remaining members, Lois Hill-Hale and Zyra McCloud, were elected in June, 1987.

Coleman “had a perspective on the problems and contributed a lot in terms of ability,” Aubry said. “She will be sorely missed.”