Latina Top Vote-Getter in School Board Race : Oxnard: Mary Barreto will serve alongside a reelected incumbent who has drawn fire for stressing English over Spanish.

With the victory Tuesday of Oxnard Elementary School District candidate Mary Barreto, the 70% Latino district will seat its first Latino board member in nearly 20 years.

“I’m absolutely flabbergasted,” said Barreto, 55, the top vote-getter in the race. “These are the fruits and consequences of a lot of hard work.”

A counselor at El Concilio, an Oxnard nonprofit organization for Latinos, Barreto called her election a grass-roots victory and downplayed the issue of Latino representation on the board.

“That was never really the primary focus,” Barreto said. “I think the community is ready for a change.”

Barreto will serve alongside Jack T. Fowler, who won reelection to a fifth term, and Jim Suter, 64, a retired Oxnard teacher, who also won a board seat.

Fowler has been at the center of controversy in the district after he emphasized the teaching of English over Spanish in Oxnard schools.

Fowler, 56, was criticized by the Assn. of Mexican-American Educators in July for requesting that a Latina parent address the board in English. He was also the target of a failed recall attempt last year.

Fowler said his second-place finish was an indication that he has overcome those issues. “I was pleased, particularly after the recall attempt,” said Fowler, who has vowed to continue to stress teaching English language skills.

In Camarillo’s Pleasant Valley Elementary School District, challenger Jeanette L. (Jan) McDonald, who was backed by a group of parents upset about crowded schools, finished first.

“We worked real hard for it,” McDonald said. Her victory, McDonald said, was fueled by parent frustration. An accountant who criticized the Pleasant Valley board for waiting too long to plan new schools to accommodate growth, McDonald said her first priority is to improve relations between the board and parents and teachers.

Challenger Leonard J. (Len) Caligiuri, 38, a real estate appraiser, also won a seat in Pleasant Valley. Incumbent Dolores (Val) Rains, 57, was reelected, but Barbara Ballard Miller, 42, lost her campaign for a second term.

In the Simi Valley Unified School District, challenger Carla Kurachi, 37, finished first with 31.8% of the vote, and Douglas Crosse, 43, was second with 20.1%.

Incumbent Lewis Roth, who trailed Crosse by 79 votes in Wednesday’s tally, noted that absentee ballots are still out and did not concede defeat.

“I’m still looking at a half-full glass,” said Roth, 57. “I believe we did everything we could. I have no regrets.”

Election officials, citing an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 absentee ballots countywide that have yet to be counted, cautioned against calling elections in close races. Final results will not be available until Nov. 21.

Crosse said he was cautiously optimistic that he would remain the victor.

In the Hueneme Elementary School District, parent Cheryl Hamilton, 33, and Darlene A. Bruno, 37, a parent and part-time waitress, finished first and second in the nine-candidate field.

“I didn’t campaign at all,” Hamilton said. “I made five or six homemade signs with things I had around the house and put them up in the neighborhood.”

Elaine K. Garber, 63, a 31-year incumbent, was elected to another term. Board members Jose C. Babauta, 68, who served for 17 years, and James K. Tipton, 59, a 25-year board member, were ousted.

In the Oxnard Union High School District, where three seats were available, parent Nancy Koch, 47, finished first, followed by incumbents Janet Lindgren, 63, and Jean Daily Underwood, 57, who won additional terms.

Incumbents Donna M. Nelson, 70, and Shirley H. Hendren, 43, won reelection in the Santa Paula Union High School District. They will be joined by Robert J. Villa, 43, a former assistant superintendent in the district who was elected to his first term.

Stephanie Stassel contributed to this story.

ELECTION RETURNS

VENTURA COUNTY DISTRICTS OXNARD HARBOR DISTRICT BOARD OF HARBOR COMMISSIONERS 3 Elected 100% Precincts Reporting: Votes (%) Raymond E. Fosse: 34,314 (23) Edward J. (Ed) Millan*: 29,355 (20) Stanley J. Daily*: 27,949 (19) Steve W. Stocks: 22,263 (15) Faith Cosby: 18,924 (13) Bill Bradley: 14,484 (10) CAMARILLO PLEASANT VALLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BOARD 3 Elected 100% Precincts Reporting: Votes (%) Jeanette (Jan) McDonald: 9,711 (22) D.V. (Val) Rains*: 7,076 (16) Leonard J. (Len) Caligiuri: 6,149 (14) Barbara Ballard Miller*: 5,563 (12) Alan L. Murray: 4,355 (10) James M. Gamboni: 3,855 (9) Robert W. Formhals: 3,404 (8) Warren H. Baker: 3,112 (7) Paul B. Vernon: 1,443 (3) PLEASANT VALLEY PARK DISTRICT 2 Elected 100% Precincts Reporting: Votes (%) Nancy C. Bush: 9,419 (34) Gary S. Gasperino: 6,832 (25) William E. Tanner: 6,206 (23) Richard Seldeen: 4,938 (18) CHANNEL ISLANDS CHANNEL ISLANDS BEACH SERVICE DISTRICT 3 Elected 100% Precincts Reporting: Votes (%) Frank J. Chiella: 670 (32) Judy M. Dunn: 578 (27) James A. Antonioli: 460 (22) James J. Henry: 391 (18) MONTALVO MONTALVO MUNICIPAL IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT 2 Elected 100% Precincts Reporting: Votes (%) Chuck Vacca: 253 (34) Steve Elsen: 246 (33) Henry G. Nass: 233 (31) SANTA PAULA BRIGGS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BOARD 3 Elected 100% Precincts Reporting: Votes (%) Karen MacConell*: 304 (23) Elizabeth Ikeda: 297 (23) Jeff Williams: 243 (18) Greg Patterson: 238 (18) Lloyd G. Simpson Jr.: 236 (18) SANTA PAULA UNION HIGH SCHOOL BOARD 3 Elected 100% Precincts Reporting: Votes (%) Donna Nelson*: 3,081 (22) Shirley Hendren*: 2,707 (20) Robert J. Villa: 2,497 (18) McKay Hendrix: 2,378 (17) Tana Ramirez: 1,766 (13) Sheryl Skaggs: 1,293 (9) OXNARD OXNARD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BOARD 3 Elected 100% Precincts Reporting: Votes (%) Mary Barreto: 7,231 (20) Jack T. Fowler*: 5,530 (16) Jim Suter: 5,370 (15) Dorothie J. Sterling*: 4,753 (13) Manuel R. Razo: 4,510 (13) William D. Hill*: 4,258 (12) Bob Hansen: 3,691 (10) OXNARD UNION HIGH SCHOOL BOARD 3 Elected 100% Precincts Reporting: Votes (%) Nancy F. Koch: 22,540 (21) Janet Lindgren*: 21,761 (20) Jean Daily Underwood*: 19,213 (18) Roy W. Lockwood: 16,123 (15) Thomas D. Ragan: 16,035 (15) Angie P. Varela: 13,417 (12) PORT HUENEME HUENEME ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BOARD 3 Elected 100% Precincts Reporting: Votes (%) Cheryl R. Hamilton: 3,230 (21) Darlene A. Bruno: 2,325 (15) Elaine K. Garber*: 2,247 (14) James K. Tipton*: 1,578 (10) Toni Young: 1,560 (10) Jose C. Babauta*: 1,501 (10) Bob Edwards: 1,362 (9) Jon Van Tilburg: 969 (6) Gail Suval: 859 (6) SIMI VALLEY SIMI VALLEY UNIFIED SCHOOL BOARD 2 Elected 100% Precincts Reporting: Votes (%) Carla Kurachi: 12,156 (32) Douglas Crosse: 7,688 (20) Lew Roth*: 7,609 (20) Karolyn J. Searight: 5,618 (15) Don Otto: 5,119 (13) RANCHO SIMI RECREATION AND PARK DISTRICT 2 Elected 100% Precincts Reporting: Votes (%) Jim Meredith: 12,837 (34) Mark Ellis Johnson: 9,659 (25) Martha Schraml: 8,387 (22) Albert (Al) Rosen: 6,972 (18) SOMIS MESA UNION ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BOARD 3 Elected 100% Precincts Reporting: Votes (%) Barbara Tweedy Patten: 465 (27) Patricia Fontes*: 409 (23) Fred J. Ferro: 367 (21) Tomas Miranda Jr.: 304 (17) Ralph A. Marchioni: 204 (12) TOPANGA-LAS VIRGENES TOPANGA-LAS VIRGENES CONSERVATION DISTRICT 3 Elected 100% Precincts Reporting: Votes (%) (includes Los Angeles County results) Jerry R. Douglas: 20,433 (29) David N. Gottlieb: 19,832 (26) Glenn Bailey: 14,980 (23) Nancy L. Helsley: 14,744 (22) OJAI OJAI UNIFIED SCHOOL BOARD 3 Elected 100% Precincts Reporting: Votes (%) Vincent W. France*: 4,316 (29) Muriel Sharkey Lavender*: 4,084 (28) Robert Emhardt*: 3,709 (25) Alan D. Fletcher: 2,709 (18) OJAI VALLEY SANITARY DISTRICTS DIVISION 2 1 Elected 100% Precincts Reporting: Votes (%) Ted Cartee: 577 (64) James B. Kerwin: 317 (35) Division 4 1 Elected 100% Precincts Reporting: Votes (%) Marvin L. Hanson: 557 (59) Joe Zorskie: 388 (41) Division 6 1 Elected 100% Precincts Reporting: Votes (%) Stan Greene: 576 (66) Billie M. Powers: 302 (34) *incumbent