HUNTINGTON BEACH : New Trustees Aim to Improve Relations

The three newly elected Ocean View School District trustees said this week that they will seek to improve relations with district employees and parents.

They also said they planned to strongly emphasize education programs in budget decisions.

Although the election results cannot be characterized as a sweeping voter revolt, the three new members campaigned on platforms criticizing some of the current board’s actions.

Lottie Hobbs, Carol Kanode and Tracy Pellman were elected to four-year terms as voters ousted President Charles Osterlund after 15 years on the board.

Trustee Carolyn Hunt, a nine-year member of the board, was elected to an unexpired, two-year term vacated when appointed trustee Elizabeth A. Spurlock decided not to seek reelection. Trustee Janet Garrick, a nine-year member of the board, also did not run for reelection.

The Ocean View district is closing a year that longtime trustees have called the most divisive in at least a decade.

The year saw trustees, administrators, teachers and parents torn by a budget deficit exceeding $1 million, labor unrest among teachers, last spring’s consideration of closing three schools and the effort to desegregate the lopsidedly Latino student population at Oak View School.

The newly elected board appears united on the issue of school closures. The three newcomers have said they believe the board should consider closing schools only as a last resort, and only if it would improve educational programs.

Hobbs, Kanode and Pellman also said this week they want to give teachers and other non-administrative employees a greater voice in decision-making.

Hobbs and Kanode said they would like to implement a program such as one in the Huntington Beach Union High School District. In the “Relationship by Objective” program, teacher representatives from each school meet once a month with administrators and a board representative to discuss issues and forge decisions through consensus.

The three newcomers also said they want to hold occasional town hall-type meetings at each school to consider parents’ ideas on pressing issues.