SOUTH COUNTY : Challengers Few in School Elections

Incumbents in the four main school board races in South County face few new challengers, and some incumbents have yet to file with two weeks remaining until the deadline.

Prospective candidates have until Aug. 10 to file papers with the county registrar of voters to run in the Nov. 6 election. In districts where no incumbents are seeking reelection, the filing deadline will be extended to Aug. 15.

In the Capistrano Unified School District, all three incumbents are seeking reelection but only one challenger has announced intentions to run. The incumbents are Crystal Kochendorfer of Laguna Niguel, Annette Gude of Mission Viejo and Paul Haseman of Laguna Niguel. Gude and Haseman are officially entered in the election, having returned their filing papers, but Kochendorfer has yet to return her statement.

Kay Payton, president of the Moulton Niguel School Parent Faculty Guild and an activist in a recent boundary dispute there, said she plans to run for the seat held by Kochendorfer. Payton, who has not taken out candidate papers, said she plans to file for the election Aug. 8 when she returns from a trip to Texas.

All three incumbents on the Saddleback College Board of Trustees are running again. They are Marcia Michiker of Mission Viejo, Iris Swanson of San Clemente and Joan J. Hueter of Tustin.

Interest seems to be low in elections in the Saddleback Valley Unified and Laguna Beach Unified school districts, where neither the incumbents nor any new challengers have filed for office.