Teachers Want Voices Heard in Hot Whittier School Race

Still frustrated by their longest-ever contract dispute last year, teachers in the Whittier City School District want their voices to be heard in Tuesday’s election--making the quest for three open school board seats one of the hottest battles in the Southeast area.

For the first time, teachers in the 6,000-student district in the heart of Whittier have formed a political action committee and pledged to support three candidates: Owen Newcomer, Reed Wilson and Dave Thomas.

Members of the committee have walked door-to-door, written letters to voters and held yard sales to raise money.

“We’ve been politically active before, but not at this level,” said Barbara Gaborko, president of the Whittier Elementary Teachers Assn. “We are trying to elect people who are understanding and have empathy for what goes on in the classroom. We have not felt we have had that for some time.”

Last year, the teachers and district officials battled for nine months over details of a new contract. The teachers wanted a 7% pay increase but settled for 5% just before a planned strike.

Hard feelings persist, Gaborko said. The election could help heal the wounds.

Nine candidates, including one incumbent, are running for three seats on the school board. Board members Ermila Corral and Janet Henke are retiring. Candidates include:

James Albanese, vice president of business services at Mt. San Antonio College. Albanese has been active in school issues since the 1970s. His wife served on the school board from 1972 to 1976.

Incumbent Mildred A. Early. Running for a fourth term, she has been on the board for 12 years and involved in school issues since 1969.

Sandra Kersley, a librarian at the Rosemead Library. She has two children enrolled in the Whittier district.

Peggy Mathews, a nurse.

J. C. (Mac) McFarland is president of McFarland Energy Co. in Santa Fe Springs. He has three children in the district, which is what prompted him to become involved in school politics, he said.

Owen Newcomer, a political science and speech teacher at Rio Hondo College. He is a member of the Rio Hondo teacher’s union and is currently negotiating for a new contract.

A. Roy Salas, a business development loan officer for a commercial lending company. Salas has served on school boards for the Los Nietos and Whittier Union High School districts. This is the first time he has run in the Whittier City School District.

Dave Thomas, a teacher in the Los Nietos school district. He has also been active in contract negotiations.

Reed Wilson, an accountant for Powerine Oil Co. in Santa Fe Springs. He has two children and has been active in parent-teacher groups for several years.

Downey Unified

A dentist and a chiropractor are vying for a seat on the Board of Education of the Downey Unified School District.

Robert E. Riley, a 49-year-old dentist who was first elected to the board in 1981, faces chiropractor Donald K. Hopkins, 25.

The Downey Education Assn., which represents district teachers, has made no formal endorsement, but it is telling members in its newsletter that Hopkins would be more sympathetic to teachers if elected.

Association Executive Director Richard Ruether said Riley has consistently opposed salary increases for teachers during negotiations.

Riley said this week that he supports good salaries for teachers but that he has opposed some raises because it was unclear whether the district would have enough money in the future to cover higher personnel costs.

Hopkins, whose wife, Cynthia, teaches math in the district, said he supports giving the district’s instructors good wages to do good jobs.

The term of office is four years, and board members receive a $400 monthly stipend.

Board members Grace E. Horney and Walter S. Temple are running unopposed. Horney was first elected in 1965, while Temple began serving on the board in 1981.

East Whittier City Schools

Ten candidates, including one incumbent, are running for three seats and one unexpired term on the East Whittier City School District board.

Paula Hodgin, owner of an interior design business, is seeking reelection. She has served on the board for four years.

Other candidates include Susan Hunter Eiden, a teacher at a junior high school in East Los Angeles; Michael E. Martinet, personnel director for the city of Bell Gardens; David Perry, a truck driver; Benjamin Rich, economics teacher at El Rancho High School in Pico Rivera; R.F. Valdez, owner of a bookstore in Whittier; Cathy Warner, a dental hygienist; and David F. Weitzel, a physician’s assistant.

Board members James Stewart and Shirley Nielson have stepped down.

Candy Harris, a businesswoman, and C. Randy King are competing to fill the unexpired term of Fred Campbell, who resigned in August because he moved out of the district.

El Rancho Unified

Five candidates are vying for three vacancies on the El Rancho Unified School District board. They are: incumbents Frank P. Boyce, 49, and E. A. (Pete) Ramirez, 51; and candidates Dimas M. Benavides, 45; Frank Millan, 54, and Mary Lou Ramirez, 51.

Benavides and Millan said they were drawn into the race over an erroneous dropout rate report released by the state. The report, which listed a 50.2% dropout rate, was based on numbers that were accidentally submitted to the state. El Rancho Supt. Thomas Sakalis said the rate is actually 19.9% for the district’s 13,200-member student body. In their literature and slogans, all of the candidates are responding to parents’ concerns about the dropout rate.

Little Lake City Elementary

Three candidates are competing for two board seats on the Little Lake City Elementary School District board. The candidates are May Sharp, 57, an incumbent and homemaker; Angel Obregon, 38, manager of governmental relations for the California Trucking Assn., and Armida Trujillo, 52, a homemaker and community volunteer.

The district enrolls 4,124 students in kindergarten through eighth grade in Santa Fe Springs, Norwalk and Downey.

Los Nietos

Five candidates are running for three school board seats in the Los Nietos School District.

The two incumbents are Angelica G. Johnson, 54, secretary at the Eastern Los Angeles Center for the Developmentally Disabled in Whittier, and Renee Frazier, 34. Other candidates are Paul Delgado, 51, school district employee; Gloria Duran, 52, an import coordinator, and Alan Kartsman. The district serves 1,900 students in Whittier.

Lowell Joint District

Four candidates are running for three seats on Whittier’s Lowell Joint School District five-member board. s Janet B. Averill, 53, a former teacher, and Joyce Canfield, 54, a teacher, are incumbents. Other candidates include Pam Overstreet, 40, a computer programmer, and Jerry Powell, 42, an appointed school board member and a Los Angeles Police Department sergeant.

Montebello Unified

Two incumbents and three challengers are campaigning for three seats on the Montebello Unified School District board.

Eleanor Kim Chow, 68, is seeking reelection to a seat she has held since 1971. Chow is a retired public relations officer.

Darrell H. Heacock, 56, also is seeking reelection. The real estate agent was first elected to the school board in 1977.

The two incumbents are being challenged by real estate instructor Elizabeth Apodaca, dentist Ralph E. Hansen, and retired teacher/administrator Paul A. Lopez.

School board member Herbert M. Stearns will retire when his term expires Nov. 30, a district spokeswoman said. The optometrist was first elected to the board in 1965.

Montebello unified board members serve four-year terms and receive $750 monthly.

Norwalk-La Mirada Unified

The Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District has three vacant board seats and six candidates competing for them.

Jesse M. Luera, 55, is director of social services in Norwalk. He has served on the board for 15 years, and wants a gang-prevention program in the school district. Lupe Flores McClintock, 33, a school activity coordinator, is the only woman in the race. She is a mother of four and wants to see after-school programs expanded. Armando Moreno Jr., 49, director of urban affairs for Glendale Federal, is a first-time board candidate. He has three children and wants to start a parent advisory committee to work with the school board.

Norwalk dentist Ralph A. Nicassio, 30, decided to run for the board this year because he wants to see priorities restructured and the budget process reformed.

Ken Welch, 60, a quality assurance engineer in Pasadena, has been on the school board eight years. William A. White taught in the Los Angeles school district until he retired in 1981. He has served on the Norwalk-La Mirada school board for eight years.

South Whittier District

Five candidates, including two incumbents, are running for three seats on the South Whittier School District board.

David G. Hayes and Tim Schneider are running for reelection. Other candidates include Manuel R. Magana, a businessman; Richard T. Minjares, a truck driver; and Joseph A. Moreno Jr.

Board member Keith Pust is not seeking reelection.

Whittier Union High

Seven candidates, including two incumbents, are vying for three seats in the Whittier Union High School District, which includes portions of Whittier and Santa Fe Springs.

The incumbents seeking reelection to the five-member board are Eve Burnett, who has served for 10 years, and John C. Rios, who has served for four years.

Other candidates include Octavio Chavez, a maintenance superintendent; Donald S. Hawkins, an electrician; Charles Henderson Boles Morgan, manager of a pharmaceutical company and PTA member; Bruce Sago, owner of an environmental management company in Santa Ana who has two children enrolled in the district; and Fred Steiner, a systems engineer for Northrop.

Board President Joan Nay is not seeking reelection.

Times staff writers Lee Harris, Tina Daunt, Rick Holguin, Franki Ransom and Stephen C. Chavez contributed to this report.