Schools at a Crossroads, Manhattan Beach Candidates Say : Issues: Rivals have differing views on unification with neighboring districts, classroom overcrowding and use of vacant school sites.

Although a 15-year decline in enrollment in Manhattan Beach schools has finally leveled off and the district budget has moved from the red back into the black, four candidates vying for the school board in next week’s election say the schools are at an important crossroads.

Among the current issues: proposals to unify the Manhattan Beach schools with those in neighboring districts; overcrowded classrooms in a district that has traditionally had too few students, and questions about how best to use vacant school sites while planning for enrollment changes in the future.

The district’s average class size stands at 29, which parents and teachers have criticized as too high. To overcome budget deficits, the district sold its administrative offices and Manhattan Heights Elementary School in recent years, spurring opposition from residents who say the district should maintain the real estate it has. The district is leasing Ladera Elementary and Robinson Elementary schools.

The three openings on the board are currently held by Gary Collins and RosaLee Saikley, who are both seeking reelection, and Robert Devine, who is not running again. The two challengers are Ron Durham and Bernard O’Connor.

Board members are paid $20 per meeting to direct a district with an $8-million budget and 2,260 students in kindergarten through eighth grade.

Here are the four candidates and their views on the issues:

* Collins, 51, a scheduling manager at TRW, has been a Manhattan Beach resident since 1952. A board member since 1981 and board president in 1983 and 1984, Collins graduated from Mira Costa High School in Manhattan Beach. He and his wife, Manhattan Beach Mayor Patricia Collins, have two children who graduated from the district.

Collins, who referred to himself at a candidates’ forum earlier this week as “the dinosaur of the board,” stresses his business background and the experience he has gained after eight years as a board member.

Of all the candidates, Collins takes the strongest position against unification of Manhattan Beach schools with the neighboring districts. He said such a move will reduce the community identity and control of the elementary schools in Manhattan Beach.

Four districts currently serve the three beach cities: the elementary systems in Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach and Hermosa Beach and South Bay Union High School District, which receives students from the beach districts at its two campuses, Mira Costa High School and Redondo Union High School.

Manhattan Beach has joined the Hermosa and South Bay districts in hiring a consultant to study unification. A report on the eight different unification options is due in January.

Collins favors leasing instead of selling unused school property, although he defends the board’s decision to sell Manhattan Heights and the district offices as necessary to solidify the district’s finances. He said reducing class sizes is needed but is an expensive venture that the board cannot immediately afford.

* Durham, 43, has lived in Manhattan Beach since 1978. He has a daughter in the second grade in the district and works as a systems analyst for TransAmerican Financial Systems.

Although he does not favor a specific unification plan, Durham calls unification inevitable and says it should be implemented with maximum community input. Durham says he does not favor selling excess school property now but said selling remains an option if the property is not needed in the future.

Durham, who says he will bring planning and problem-solving skills to the board, suggested that the district explore the idea of setting up a fine arts magnet school. The district has had to cut back on fine arts offerings in past years because of a budget crunch. Durham said another priority for the board must be reducing class size.

“I don’t really have any quarrel with the current board,” Durham said. “I think this is a talented group of people running for these three seats. That’s the luck of the board.”

* O’Connor, 50, a Torrance business lawyer who has lived in Manhattan Beach for 22 years, has two preschool children. He taught an adult night school class for two years and earlier this year served on a citizens advisory committee for the South Bay Union High School District.

O’Connor said two things prompted him to seek a school board seat: his two preschool children who will be entering the district and a college graduate he hired who had excellent credentials but “his writing skills were practically nil.”

If unification is necessary, O’Connor said he favors four-way unification among Manhattan, Hermosa and Redondo and the high school district. His second choice is combining Manhattan and Hermosa with Mira Costa High School.

He said he would bring his legal expertise to future contract talks between the city and the school board and to other business decisions.

Although acknowledging that class sizes are too large in Manhattan Beach, O’Connor said adding teaching aides in classrooms might be a way to get around the extreme cost of trying to lower overall class size. He also favors leasing instead of selling school properties.

“The district is in much better shape (than in past years) and is headed in the right direction,” O’Connor said.

* Saikley, 45, a parent education teacher at the South Bay Adult School, has been a Manhattan Beach resident for 22 years. She has three children attending Manhattan Beach schools and another that went through the system. A PTA member since 1975 and a board member since 1985, she served as president of the board in 1987.

Saikley says she is waiting for the consultant’s report before she takes an official position on unification, but she said creating a K-12 district in Manhattan Beach by separating Mira Costa High School from the South Bay district would significantly decrease the number of programs available at the school.

Saikley advocates applying for more outside grants and leasing school sites that are not needed in order to establish long-term funding and make the district less dependent on state funds. She acknowledges the class size problem but says it will cost the district $100,000 to lower the average class size by a single student, too much for the district to afford.