4 Seek 3 Seats in Culver City Schools Race : Lack of Opponents Precludes Election in Beverly Hills

Culver City voters are likely to see a low-key school board campaign this fall, and, for the first time in many years, Beverly Hills voters will see none at all.

Because Beverly Hills school board incumbents Fred Stern and Dana Tomarken face no opponents, the Los Angeles County registrar will issue letters stating that there is no need to hold an election, officials said Thursday. The deadline for filing was Friday.

Stern, an investment banker who was first elected in 1981, said he was somewhat surprised at the lack of competition.

“I just assumed there were a number of people in the community who identify with a quality school system and would like to be a part” of setting school policy, he said. Stern speculated that the lack of challengers might be because there is “possibly no boiling issue upon which to differentiate themselves from board members that are running. The board members pretty much reflect the feeling in the community.”

Tomarken said she was thrilled to automatically get another four-year term. “Campaigning is a tedious process, a tedious task,” she said. “It’s tedious to get to the end. . . . I’m indeed pleased I don’t have to go through that.”

Will Save $26,000

District officials said it is the first time there won’t be an election in recent history. Mary Ellen Figueroa, director of fiscal services, said the district will save $26,000 by not having to hold an election.

Mark Egerman, a former board member, agreed that the situation was unusual, but added: “If either (incumbent had) decided not to run, I think you would see quite a few people (running).” Egerman, chairman of the nonprofit Beverly Hills Education Foundation, which raises money for the district, said Stern and Tomarken are “well respected in the community.”

In Culver City, board incumbents Bob Knopf and Julie Lugo Cerra and challengers Jim Quirarte and Thomas J. Supple are running for three seats to be filled by the top vote-getters in the Nov. 7 election. Two-term member Kay Lyou decided not to seek reelection, mainly because her house near Elenda Street is to be moved this fall so that the city can widen the street.

“Campaigning under those circumstances, I thought, would be a little difficult,” said Lyou, 59, a free-lance editor of dissertations. She said she also needed a “breather. . . . I need to read a book that’s not necessarily on education.”

Cites Accomplishments

Looking back on her accomplishments on the board, Lyou said she was proud of helping to establish a health center that serves Culver City Middle and High schools, and of a J. Paul Getty Museum program that teaches art to elementary school students. She said she will continue to work with the district to start a program to help teen-age mothers stay in school.

Cerra, elected in 1985, and Knopf, elected in 1981, both said they would run on their records of being accessible.

Cerra, a consultant, said the district has to continue planning for the future and renovating the schools. She said the curricula must arm students with skills in English, reading, math, problem-solving and critical thinking so that they can be adaptable.

“Society is changing so much,” she said. “Kids today will not go into an occupation . . . and stay there throughout their work life. They’ll need to change their occupations.”

Cerra, who belongs to the booster club of Culver City High School and the Culver City Historical Society, said she plans to run a low-key campaign.

Knopf pointed to the district’s technology training center and before-school and after-school child care as the top accomplishments of the board during his two terms. He said the district has to concentrate more on the “top 10% and bottom 10%” students, not just the average ones.

The Hughes Aircraft Corp. engineer said he hopes to run his campaign on less than $1,000. “I plan on doing a lot of walking,” Knopf said.

Quirarte, who ran unsuccessfully for the board in 1987, is on the district’s strategic planning committee. His priorities include increased communication with the community and a back-to-basics curricula. “This school generation is going to be the generation that takes care of me,” Quirarte said. “I want them to be prepared to work in the global economy.”

He said that when employees at a bank recently misfiled some of his documents, they told him: “What do you expect? We’re Culver High grads.”

“So they’re not proud of it,” Quirarte said.

Quirarte, 44, who is in the jukebox and vending machine leasing business, is a former director of Culver City High School’s booster club and a former president of the Culver City Jaycees. He said he had no criticisms of the school board, calling it “cohesive.”

Supple, a software engineer, has been on an advisory committee to the student health clinic. He could not be reached for comment.