School Board to Interview Trustee Candidates : Schools: Seven people vie to replace Brian R. Demsey on Capistrano Unified School District’s governing body.

Seven candidates vying to replace Brian R. Demsey on the Capistrano Unified School District Board of Trustees will be questioned by the board Monday and a successor is expected to be named later this month.

The trustees will meet at 6:30 p.m. at district headquarters, 32972 Calle Perfecto.

They are expected to name a replacement at their May 20 meeting. The board decided last month to appoint a successor rather than spend $100,000 for a special election.

Demsey, a 48-year-old San Juan Capistrano insurance consultant who was elected to a second term in November, 1988, announced his resignation in March and it took effect Monday.

The candidates to replace Demsey live in the 5th District, which includes Capistrano Beach Village and portions of San Juan Capistrano and San Clemente. The new board member will finish Demsey’s term, which expires in 1992.

The trustees oversee the district, giving direction to administrators and approving expenditures. They have recently been wrestling with a potential $4.2-million budget deficit and voted last week to lay off four employees and raise the district’s average class size.

The candidates are:

* Sonia Adelman, a 36-year-old former child-care coordinator who has lived in San Juan Capistrano for seven years. She is married and has two children, one attending Capistrano Valley High School, the other Marco F. Forster Junior High School. She is a former PTA president, a member of the San Juan Elementary School Task Force and the Anti-Defamation League.

“I have been very active (in the district) and it seemed like a natural progression to apply for the board to see if the district could use me in some other way,” Adelman said. “I would like to see more partnerships between the district and private industry.”

* William Charles Boos, a 35-year-old supervisor at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station who has lived in Capistrano Beach for seven years and the district for 10 years. He is married and his two children attend Palisades Elementary School.

While reluctant to discuss his reasons for seeking the seat--he said he would speak to the board directly--Boos said he believed it was “necessary for members of the community to take an active part in public education.”

* Kenneth H. Combs, a 44-year-old San Juan Capistrano business consultant and former attorney who has lived in the district four years. He is married and has two daughters who attend Palisades Elementary School. He is a former member of the Orange County Solid Waste Commission.

Combs said he is concerned about the district’s financial problems and wants “Capistrano to get the most value for its voters and its children.”

* Dorothy P. (Peggy) Edwards, a 46-year-old San Juan Capistrano resident who is the founder and former executive director of a nonprofit Orange County group that aids immigrants. She is married, has a son at Del Obispo Elementary School and is a former schoolteacher at the elementary level.

“I feel I could represent the Hispanic and immigrant people, who have not been integrated into the school district,” Edwards said. “As a result, the district has not progressed as it should.”

* Kathryn I. Itzel, a 42-year-old former airline flight attendant and business owner who has lived in San Juan Capistrano for 12 years. She is married and has two children. One attends San Clemente High School, the other Marco F. Forster Junior High School. She has been a member of several district committees, including the boundary and year-round schools committees, and is a former PTA president.

“My 11 years of volunteering in the schools has given me certain knowledge about our schools, and I would not be coming in cold,” Itzel said. “I understand the district’s facilities and budget needs and I know what the teachers’ needs are.”

* Karen McNamara, a 48-year-old San Clemente real estate agent who has lived in the district 11 years. She is a former guidance technician at San Clemente High School and a former teacher at Mission Viejo High School. She is married and has two children, with one attending San Clemente High School and the other in college. She is a former PTA president.

“I don’t have a particular agenda, I just want the Capistrano district to offer the best education possible with the limited resources available,” McNamara said.

* Zygmunt Szczepanski, a San Clemente businessman who is a former part-time community college instructor and a former California State University executive. He did not return several calls for comment.