Angry Voters Expel Many Incumbents on School Boards

Community college trustees Thomas M. Buchenau and Sydney P. Wiener listed themselves as incumbents on Tuesday’s ballot for reelection to the board of the Grossmont-Cuyamaca district.

Rochelle T. Bastien, an appointed incumbent, decided merely to list her profession, as a clinical psychologist.

Bastien was the only board member to survive Tuesday’s election.

Throughout the county, from Poway to San Ysidro, from East County to the North Coast, school board members found reelection tough sledding, with numerous veterans being turned out by voters expressing anti-incumbent anger and reflecting a national perception that too many things are wrong with American public education. Out of 36 districts with elections, only Coronado, Borrego Springs, Lemon Grove, San Dieguito, San Marcos and Santee returned all incumbents to office. The anti-incumbent mood flared in district races with sharp debates about locations of a new school or the value of a superintendent, as well as in those districts where no burning issues existed.

In San Diego Unified, the nation’s eighth-largest urban system, John de Beck’s razor-thin victory over Scott Harvey was due in part to De Beck’s reputation as an iconoclastic candidate unafraid to lock horns with the prevailing philosophy of the existing board of trustees.

Observers even attributed the mild upset of Kara Kobey over longtime education activist Yvonne Larsen for a San Diego Community College seat in part to voters’ feelings that Larsen’s extensive resume as a past city school district trustee and overseer for the California State University system gave her the aura of an incumbent.

“There was an anti-incumbent mood, and the voters really took it out at (the school) level,” said David Feldman, a veteran pollster and vice chancellor for development and community relations for the Grossmont-Cuyamaca system. “And add to that the feeling that schools are problematic anyways.”

Feldman said Wednesday no major issues divided candidates for the Grossmont-Cuyamaca board.

Superintendents of various elementary and secondary school districts countywide made similar points Wednesday.

“We’ve wondered about this all day,” said Warren Hogarth, superintendent of the La Mesa-Spring Valley district, where two of three incumbents lost, and where the third finished last of the three elected. “I can understand an incumbent being overturned here or there, but when it happens countywide . . . this is just not normal.”

All three incumbents were also-rans in Oceanside. “There were no particular issues that were contested here, and we really have no idea of what happened,” Assistant Supt. Joe Graybeal said. He and other superintendents noted that the majority of voters do not have children in public schools.

“Maybe we have to raise the consciousness level of those folks and get them in touch with schools so they will know” that educational quality does exist, he said.

In the Sweetwater high school district, South Bay area voters had clear choices between incumbents supporting embattled superintendent Anthony Trujillo and those who feel he has poorly administered district finances and personnel matters. The two long-time incumbents who supported Trujillo were pasted by newcomers.

“There’s a message there,” said trustee Nick Aguilar, a Trujillo supporter who was not up for reelection. He said that, although new board members will probably moderate their views once they become part of the system, their election will probably hasten Trujillo’s expressed desire to retire by the end of his contract next year.

Shirley Weber, a San Diego city school trustee who will head the board next year, expressed sentiment for moderation about De Beck, whose views on major educational issues in the city diverge sharply from those of current board members.

“I know little about the man because I’ve never met him personally, but I think you learn quickly as a new board member that, if you are going to bring about positive changes, you have to be collaborative with your colleagues and work with others who don’t perhaps share your philosophy,” Weber said.

De Beck himself said Wednesday that he hopes to sit down soon with trustees--all of whom backed his opponent--to “try and allay the fears they apparently have of what kind of person I am. I want them to understand me better.”

De Beck will be joined as a new trustee by Sue Braun, who trounced Lynette Williams as expected for the other open seat. Braun, who considers herself much more in the mainstream of district policies, said her initial efforts will be to solve “nitty gritty problems” of skateboarding, new school openings and other constituent matters in her Scripps Ranch-Mira Mesa-San Carlos areas.

Kobey will join fellow winners Maria Senour and Denise Ducheny on the San Diego Community College District board of trustees. The three women won the open seats and will serve alongside trustees Evonne Schulze and Fred Colby, who were elected two years ago.

Schulze said that the Kobey name--she is the daughter of the late swap meet magnate Monte Kobey--as well as her “freshness” compared to Larsen probably helped Kobey over the top.

“But all six candidates who ran would have been very, very good,” Schulze said.