HUNTINGTON BEACH : Districts Elect New Board Presidents

Trustees from each of the city’s three school districts last week elected new board presidents for the coming year.

Trustee Bonnie Castrey was elected president of the Huntington Beach Union High School District board, succeeding Charmayne Bohman. Castrey, 49, is a labor arbitrator and law student who has served on the board since 1985. The high school district trustees also elected Jerry Sullivan as the board’s new vice president and Bonnie Bruce, a 1990 board appointee, as its new clerk.

During her one-year term as president, Castrey will guide the board through another year in which budget cuts loom as the most critical issue. The board slashed $14 million in spending in the past five years and is expected to cut an additional $2.5 million this year.

In the Ocean View School District, Carol Kanode, who was elected last year to the board, is the new president. Kanode, a high school nurse and executive director of the Huntington Youth Shelter, succeeds Lottie Hobbs, who was also elected last year.

The trustees elected Carolyn Hunt as their new clerk and vice president.

Under Kanode’s leadership, Ocean View is heading into another year of major changes. The school district next fall will introduce middle schools, expand busing, close two schools and appoint a new superintendent to replace Monte McMurray, who will be retiring.

Trustees in the Huntington Beach City School District elected Brian Garland as their new president. Garland, 51, is principal of Edison High School.

Garland will lead the board through a year in which the district will attempt to resolve a dispute with a land developer over a new elementary school to be built in the Holly-Seacliff development area. The district will also face additional budget cuts.