Countywide : Whittier Professor Challenges Peterson

A Whittier College education professor filed nominating petitions in the race for Orange County superintendent of schools Tuesday, marking the first serious challenge in more than a decade for longtime schools chief Robert D. Peterson.

John F. Dean, 63, a Newport Beach resident who has been chairman of Whittier’s education department for 19 years, submitted 3,000 signatures to the county Board of Elections on Tuesday morning, officially placing him on the ballot for the June 5 election.

“I surveyed district superintendents to find out how they felt about service out of the county office, and they were pretty unanimous in not being happy with it,” Dean said. “Dr. Peterson has been around for 24 years, and they felt it was time for new leadership.”

Peterson, 69, who has been hounded by grand jury management investigations for nearly all of his years as county superintendent, announced in December that he would run for an unprecedented seventh four-year term.

Despite years of complaints from district administrators that Peterson is out of touch with their needs, efforts to unseat him in elections have been unsuccessful. He ran unopposed in 1986 and received only token opposition in 1982 from John Scott Inmon, then principal of Rancho San Joaquin Intermediate School in Irvine.

In an interview, Dean appeared unfazed by Peterson’s formidable history but acknowledged that the superintendent is “pretty much entrenched.”

“For a nonpartisan race, you just have to alert the public that there’s a real need for a change,” Dean said. “I really think the county superintendent is one of the best-kept secrets in Orange County. People are really not aware that there is a county superintendent who makes $100,000 a year and controls a $60-million budget.

“I think our public schools and the county Department of Education can be better in meeting the needs of all the kids, all the students, the bilingual and the gifted and the bright and the kids that need more help. I firmly believe the grand jury reports that have called for new leadership for years.”

Dean was referring to harsh grand jury reports that have consistently criticized Peterson’s policies. Many of the reports called for abolition of the job.

Noting Peterson’s high name recognition, Dean said he plans to spend $250,000 on the campaign, much of it in countywide mailings.

“If he wants to win, he’d have to spend that much ($250,000) or more,” Peterson said. Without specifying any dollars figures, Peterson added that he plans to “spend enough to win.” In previously published reports, Peterson said he planned to spend about $60,000.

Dean, an educator for 40 years, said he would bring “a strong background of public and private education” to the superintendent’s post if elected. The majority of his public school service has been in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, where he was principal of Harbor View elementary school in Corona del Mar and later director of curriculum for the district’s elementary schools before joining the Whittier College staff. In recent years, he has served as dean of the evening college at Orange Coast College.