Late Filings Fill All School District Races

Late filings for school board races in seven South Bay school districts added seven candidates to an already-large field and ensured that every district will be able to fill vacant seats in the Nov. 7 election.

Filing was extended until Wednesday in districts where incumbents had not filed for reelection by the close of the regular filing period Aug. 11. Those are the Lawndale, Wiseburn, Manhattan Beach City and Hermosa Beach City elementary school districts; the South Bay Union High School District, and the Palos Verdes Unified and El Segundo Unified school districts.

As of the initial filing deadline on Aug. 11, the Manhattan Beach City School District had only two candidates for three seats. That was remedied this week when two more contenders, Bernard E. O’Connor Jr. and Ronald G. Durham, filed papers with the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder. They will face incumbents Gary R. Collins and Rosa Lee Saikley.

The late filing period also produced two more candidates in the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District race, which is expected to focus on the secession efforts of residents who live on the east side of the district. Brenton F. Goodrich and Brigitte Scheuegraf added their names to the list of contenders seeking three vacancies on the board. Both favor a single district, as do Jeffrey Younggren and Marlys Kinnell, the incumbents seeking reelection.

The secession fight was sparked two years ago when the board voted to close Miraleste, the east side’s high school. Candidates who have favored secession or a guarantee to keep Miraleste open, are Peter Gardiner, Barry Hildebrand and Marianne Kipper. Scheuegraf has said she favors keeping Miraleste open but is opposed to secession.

In other additions to the lineup, Gerald L. Wellfonder and Martha Castillo del Muro filed for the board of the El Segundo Unified School District.

The race for four board seats already included incumbents Timothy T. Chang and Ruth Parks, along with Jim Butterworth, Rich Reed, Ken Schofield, Patricia Walker, Jerry Walters, Nancy Wernick and Keith Wise.

A lawyer, Chang last month was ordered disbarred by the state Supreme Court for misappropriating money from a client. The court found he had “misappropriated over $7,000” from Mellon Bank of Philadelphia. The bank hired Chang in 1983 to collect $78,983 owed it, but he kept more than $7,000 for himself as a fee, according to the Supreme Court decision.

Bank Filed Complaint

The bank disputed the fee and filed a complaint in 1984 with the State Bar of California. The State Bar recommended Chang’s disbarment. On July 27, the state Supreme Court agreed, finding that, in addition to the misappropriation of funds, he had “fraudulently delayed the State Bar’s investigation.”

Chang could not be reached for comment this week. The disbarment takes effect Aug. 26.

Also filing this week was Gregory J. Kelsey, who is a candidate for one of three vacancies on the Hermosa Beach City School District. The other candidates are incumbents Mary Lou Weiss and Lynne Gonzales, as well as Bill Druar.

No New Candidates

No additional candidates turned in papers for the Lawndale, Wiseburn and South Bay Union High School districts, where filing had also been extended.

Following are candidates in school races that did not gain candidates this week:

Incumbents Bonnie Coronada and Robert Kruse and challenger Thomas Wayne Garrett for three seats on the Lawndale School District board;

Incumbents Walter Guerrero and Daniel Juarez with challenger Angelina Garza for three seats on the Wiseburn School District board;

Incumbents Tom Downs and Lyn Florey, plus Jim Duffy for three South Bay Union High School District.

In a race not related to schools, Teresa Sun became a candidate this week for the Palos Verdes Library District, where filing was also extended because an incumbent did not seek reelection. Previously filing for the two vacancies on Palos Verdes library board were incumbent Janet Smith, Frances Bolton and Alex Rennie.