School Board Winner Puts Supt. Britton on Notice

Mark Slavkin, the energetic school board candidate who, with the strong backing of the teachers’ union, defeated incumbent Alan Gershman in Tuesday’s runoff, wasted little time savoring his victory before taking aim at another potential opponent--Los Angeles Supt. Leonard Britton.

Slavkin, who had supported the teachers in the bitter nine-day strike and made a campaign slogan out of a pledge to “shake up the fat-cat administrators and bureaucrats,” put the superintendent on notice Tuesday night, saying he was unhappy with his handling of the contract negotiations.

“I’m really disappointed in the superintendent,” Slavkin said. “I want to give him a chance to show me what he’s got and, if he doesn’t, we may need a change, and I’m one board member who will vote to see him go.”

Supt. Britton met briefly with Slavkin Wednesday afternoon and said he welcomed the opportunity to work with the new board member, a spokeswoman for the district said. Slavkin plans to take a short vacation in London with his family before taking office July 1.

21,418 Votes

Slavkin, 27, an aide to Los Angeles County Supervisor Ed Edelman, received 21,418 votes, or 51% of those cast in Tuesday’s runoff election, to Gershman’s 20,444 or 49%.

Much of the credit for Slavkin’s victory has been given to the 22,000-member United Teachers-Los Angeles, which poured money and volunteers into the Slavkin campaign in its effort to unseat Gershman and gain a sympathetic fourth vote on the board. The union also supported incumbent Julie Korenstein in her successful bid for reelection to her San Fernando Valley seat against Jerry Horowitz, a junior high school principal.

“The strike focused public attention on the race,” Slavkin said. “The strike was the critical testing ground for Alan’s leadership and he came up way short. People were angry that a strike occurred, they were angry at both sides and they were angry that our Westside board member was invisible.”

Gershman, meanwhile, said the strike took the wind out of the sails of his campaign. “It hurt, I lost three weeks campaigning,” he said. “Negotiations required a very different energy level, there were times when my campaign (workers) could not get in touch with me. He (Slavkin) didn’t have the demands on his time that I had. We had to cancel appointments and put off fund-raisers. Yes, it hurt.”

Gershman also accused Slavkin and the teachers of conducting dirty tricks to disrupt his campaign. He said that lawn signs supporting his candidacy were frequently destroyed and that Slavkin disrupted a Gershman fund-raiser by showing up with a person dressed in a chicken costume to challenge Gershman to debate.

“I have never seen anything so negative--I wouldn’t participate in it,” he said. “At least I can go out with my head held high, knowing that I did nothing to deliberately confuse the voters.”

Gershman said he had no regrets about losing and offered Slavkin his best wishes for the next four years. “I having nothing but gratitude for the experience of being on the board the last eight years,” he said. “I have met some wonderful people, and I have been able to accomplish some positive things.”

He listed among his accomplishments the establishment of Hamilton Music Academy, the Venice Foreign Language magnet school and an elementary school program to immerse students in the Spanish language.

Councilman Zev Yaroslavky, who supported Gershman in the runoff election, said Slavkin would be a strong board member for the Westside. “Mark is a progressive person and he will do a good job on the board,” he said.

However, school board member Rita Walters said she would reserve judgment. “I don’t know him,” she said. “But it is troubling when a private organization (UTLA) can stand back and count on a majority of the members of a public body for support.”

Slavkin said that, even though he supported the teachers’ call for more pay and greater say in running the schools, he plans to be an independent board member. “The teachers were tremendously important to my campaign, volunteering time and contributing money,” he said. “I’m proud of their help, but I am an independent person.”

One of his first tasks, he said, will be to challenge the notion that administrators should automatically get the same pay increase won by the teachers’ union.

To that end, he added: “I hope that the lame-duck board with Alan Gershman doesn’t rush to make decisions on some critical budget issues. I (am) skeptical about the district’s claims of poverty, but I don’t want to be stuck for the next year with short-sighted budget decisions.”