ANAHEIM : 7 Are Seeking 3 Seats on School Board

An incumbent and six challengers are vying for three seats on the Anaheim Union High School District Board of Trustees in what is shaping up to be the most closely contested race since a successful 1979 recall bid.

The vast 19-school district with a $106-million budget has witnessed a number of substantial changes over the past decade that have led to new problems confronting the board.

Declining enrollment has left the district with fewer funds to allocate, leaving teachers to grumble about low wages. Since the mid-1970s enrollment has dropped from 38,000 to just over 19,000. At the same time, demographic changes in the city have brought 71 languages, and a virtual minority-majority student population.

“We spent the decade of the ‘80s really working on our alternative education program,” Supt. Cynthia F. Grennan said. “Yet, while we have (about) 60% of our advanced seniors earning (advanced placement) credit (for college courses), we also have little tykes who don’t know the (English) language.”

The teachers’ union has endorsed three candidates in the Nov. 6 election: Hersh Cherson, Donald L. Weddle and Beverly Yourstone.

Teachers recently signed a three-year contract that gives them a 4% pay raise. However, many teachers are still disgruntled with the current administration and are looking for a new board majority to help their cause.

About 60 teachers left the district this past year, some to retire, others to move to different districts or administrative positions, and improving low staff morale is a main issue among most of the candidates.

Molly McGee, who became the youngest elected official in the state when she joined the board at age 19 in 1973, retired 10 years later and is again trying for a seat. She is supported by the state employees’ union, as are Cherson and Weddle.

Joanne L. Stanton, the lone incumbent in the race, did not receive the support of either union. Stanton has served on the board since 1979, when voters ousted two other trustees in a recall, which ended nearly a decade of factional infighting among members.

With the 1989 dropout rate at 25%, encouraging students to stay in school is also a high priority among many candidates. Stanton stresses the addition of vocational training to offer students more alternatives, and Yourstone would like to institute more extracurricular activities.

Candidate Lola Tapia, a county employee, calls for encouraging more minorities to join the teaching staff and other leadership positions in the district to give students additional role models.

“I just think it’s a grave mistake to keep hanging on here and not to think things are not changing,” said Tapia, who wants an “open-door” policy between the board and the community.

Anaheim first instituted a substance abuse program for its students in the early 1980s and has hired a gang suppression specialist to address the district’s growing gang problem.

Still, all the candidates cite the need for more of these types of services to help students. Shirley Rehm, a longtime classified employee and former board secretary, for example, said a total “attitude change” between the board and the way it listens to the community is needed before such issues can begin to be addressed.

Two board members whose seats are up, Jo Anne Barnett and Charles Hicks Jr., are leaving the board to seek City Council positions in Anaheim and Cypress.