LOCAL ELECTIONS / LONG BEACH : Candidates for School Board Agree Crime Is a Top Issue

Two years ago, 25 candidates slugged it out in what became the most expensive and one of the most contentious school board elections in the history of the Long Beach Unified School District.

By comparison, next month’s race is a sleeper, one that reflects a calmer district where relations between teachers and district officials have become civil, even friendly.

On April 10, two incumbents will face one challenger each, the smallest number of school board candidates since 1973.

Board Vice President Karin Polacheck, a homemaker who taught in Long Beach schools for four years, faces challenger Robert McKittrick, an insurance adjuster. And board member Jerry Shultz, a sheriff’s deputy, is opposed by Mary Stanton, a retired schoolteacher.

School board President Jenny Oropeza, who was unopposed, was appointed by her colleagues last month to a four-year term.

Most of the candidates cite crime as the biggest issue, although their approaches differ significantly.

Shultz pushed unsuccessfully to upgrade the status of campus security guards to police officers and prides himself on raising the issue that resulted in a commitment by the board to add one staff assistant to each high school.

Stanton, however, said she is seeking the District 1 seat because Shultz is hung up on the issue of crime to the detriment of other matters.

Meanwhile, in District 5, the challenger, McKittrick, cited “a severe safety crisis” as a major issue that “most of the board doesn’t want to admit.”

Unlike Stanton, McKittrick said he would have supported Shultz’s proposal, which was defeated last month 4 to 1.

The candidates differ little on year-round schools. All four said that they would like to avoid mandating the year-round schedule in schools that are not overcrowded and that they recognize that the entire school district probably will go to year-round schedules because of the growing student population.

Only Stanton said she would vote to convert schools to year-round programs in the affluent east part of town, where overcrowding is not a serious problem, to make the program more equitable.

Most of the overcrowding is in the downtown, central and west parts of town. Earlier this month, Polacheck and Shultz, joined by a third board member, voted down a proposal to convert two schools in the east side to year-round. Proponents had argued that the program should be distributed equally, so it will not be viewed as only for minorities.

The Shultz/Stanton race is expected to become the most expensive on the board this year. Shultz, who is endorsed by the Teachers Assn. of Long Beach, said he has raised about $2,000 and expects to raise at least $1,000 more.

Stanton, who is backed by the Lambda Democratic Club and the Long Beach Democratic Club, said she has raised more than $5,000 and expects to spend about $15,000. Her list of supporters includes several community leaders, including George Talin Sr., Nancy Latimer and Barbara Shoag.

In the District 5 race, McKittrick, who ran for the board two years ago, said he expects to raise less than $200 for the race. Polacheck, who is endorsed by the teachers’ union and the Long Beach Area Citizens Involved, said she is not expecting to spend more than $1,000.

The small number of candidates in this election may reflect apathy, while the calm could be a reflection of a happier constituency, particularly the teachers, who fought hard to change the makeup of the board.

In 1988, three of the four candidates who won a seat on the five-member board were supported by the Teachers Assn. of Long Beach, which spent an unprecedented $60,000 in their races. It was a historic race in the Long Beach district. For the first time, board members were elected by regions instead of citywide, opening the way for more participants, including minority candidates.

The result, according to school board members, is a more creative, open school board, one that has placed higher emphasis on minority issues, encouraged an extensive reorganization of the district and approved significant overhauls in the schools.

The changes include a master plan of programs for students with limited English knowledge; a reorganization plan that will divide the district into six divisions and make managers more accountable for what happens in those districts, and the creation of middle schools, which has shifted ninth-graders to senior high schools.