30 Run for Board of Compton Schools : Troubled District Faces Growing Discontent by Teachers, Parents

Thirty people have filed to run for election to the board of a Compton Unified School District that is facing growing teacher and parent discontent.

Five seats on the seven-member board will be on the November ballot. Four of the positions carry four-year terms. The fifth seat, to fill an unexpired term, will be for two years.

The district is losing about 128 of its teachers this year. Many are switching to the Los Angeles Unified School District, where teachers won a three-year, 24% pay raise in the spring after a four-week strike, according to district teachers union officials.

Compton parents at board meetings and other gatherings have expressed concern over the district’s low student scores on state tests. The scores average in the first percentile on a scale of 1 to 100. School buildings are crumbling and, according to some parents, are unsafe. And the district’s swelling Latino enrollment, which could exceed 50% this year, is resulting in more pressure from Latino residents for better bilingual services and an equal share of the district’s jobs.

Four of the candidates are long-time incumbents seeking new four-year terms. They are John Steward, a deputy probation officer for Los Angeles County; Kelvin Filer, a Compton attorney; Sam Littleton, a medical social worker at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center, and Manuel Correa, a retired city police commander who is also the only elected Latino official in the city.

The fifth incumbent is Lynn Dymally, whose father is Rep. Mervyn Dymally (D-Compton). She was appointed to the board only last month to replace Bernice Woods, who was elected in June to the City Council.

Some district residents were angry over the appointment, which was made without public notice. Critics also see it as an attempt by Dymally’s father to grasp more political power in the city. The residents launched a petition drive to have the congressman’s daughter removed but failed to gather the necessary number of signatures in time to meet the deadline. Organizers of the drive were attempting to force the school board to remove Dymally and leave the seat vacant until the November election.

Dymally has already served one term on the board, but in 1987 decided not to seek reelection. Known also by her married name of Lynn Dymally Lee, the congressman’s daughter faces three challengers vying to serve the remaining two years of Woods’ term.

Tried to Win Seat Earlier

Among them is Acquanetta Harrison Warren, 33, who tried two years ago to win a seat on the board. A product manager for First Interstate Bank, Warren and her husband have two children in the Compton schools.

Also running is Kalem Aquil, a 41-year-old electronics technician with the Southern California Rapid Transit District who is making his first bid for public office. He has three children in the city schools and is a member of the district’s advisory council.

The fourth challenger to Dymally is Omar Bradley, 30, a high school English teacher in the Lynwood schools, who ran unsuccessfully for the City Council last April.

Bradley’s sister-in-law, Paula L. Howard, is among the 26 candidates running for four-year terms. Howard, 36, is a physical education teacher in the Lynwood schools.

Also running for four-year terms are Margaret Moore, 58, a community liaison with the school district, who almost won a spot on the board when she was a candidate two years ago; Madelina D. Dewberry, a former teacher who is now manager of human resources at American Express’ Culver City office, and 47-year-old Earnest Spears, executive director of the Compton Chamber of Commerce. Spears ran unsuccessfully this year for city treasurer.

Second Run for Board

Gorgonio (Greg) Sanchez Jr., a quality control manager for a manufacturing company and a member of the city government’s Latino Advisory Committee, is making his second run for the school board. He was an unsuccessful candidate in 1985 but this year, he says, the Latino community is organizing a voter registration drive.

Other candidates are Sadie R. Benham, a child-care center teacher; Muhammad Abdullah, a student at Cal State Long Beach; Verda M. Cheathen, a teacher; Gary Leon Daniels, a minister and a teacher; Hyacinth Dandridge, an educator and community activist; Deborah M. Gayles, library assistant; Nancy L. Johnson, a retired teacher; Roy E. Little, a vocational rehabilitation counselor; and Saul E. Lankster, a former school board member who listed his occupation as educator and business administrator and operates a florist shop.

Also running are Chester L. Hammond Sr.; youth services counselor; Dhanifu S. Karim, student and counselor; Malcum Mumford, a sheet-metal worker; Ken Perkins, who is self-employed; Otha Ray Scott, an educator; Mae Thomas, a community parent facilitator; Walter E. White Jr., a retired property manager; and Patricia Moore, who works for the city as a business license inspector. She is not related to the councilwoman of the same name.