HUNTINGTON BEACH : New Trustees Herald Change in Relations

After three years as a voice of dissension on the Huntington Beach City School District board, trustee Robert Mann may emerge as a leader in the wake of last Tuesday’s election that unseated two conservative incumbents.

Mann and two challengers advocating broad changes in the district, Shirley Carey and Brian Garland, were swept into office last week, ousting nine-year board members Sherry Barlow and Patricia Cohen in the race for three seats.

The outcome indicates not only a resounding victory for Mann, but for the district’s teachers’ union, which endorsed and campaigned for all three winning candidates.

Since Mann was appointed to the board in 1987, he has criticized his colleagues, saying their policies failed to stress educational programs and teachers’ concerns.

He also was the lone board member who last year opposed a pay raise and contract extension for Supt. Diana Peters. Several months later, Peters resigned, and she and trustees said “philosophical differences” had driven a wedge between them.

Mann and the newly elected members all said they consider their top priority to be the board’s selection of Peters’ successor.

Like Mann, Carey, who has called the current board majority “dysfunctional,” and Garland, a two-time former board member, are strong advocates of teacher empowerment and directing more money toward classroom activities.

Garland, who returns to the board after serving separate terms from 1975-80 and 1982-86, said he believes that trustees “need to stop using so much energy to protect their own turf . . . and channel that energy toward providing a quality education for children, because that’s the only reason we’re here.”

During last year’s protracted contract negotiations, teachers picketed, assailed trustees at board meetings and boycotted extracurricular activities. But teachers’ union president Sharon Boudreau estimated that three-fourths of the district’s teachers helped campaign to elect Mann, Carey and Garland, a sign that relations with the incoming board will be different.