Chung Appointed to School Board Seat : Education: The Cerritos resident is approved in a 4-2 vote. Critics threaten a petition drive to force a special election.

The ABC Unified school board has appointed a Cerritos parent, businessman and community volunteer to its vacant school board seat.

Last week’s selection of Charlie Chung, 50, immediately drew heat from critics who threatened a petition drive to force a special election to get their preferred candidates on the board.

Board members voted 4-to-2 Tuesday to have Chung serve out the unexpired term of board member Dean Criss, who died in March. The Cerritos resident got the nod on the second ballot after four candidates split votes on the first round.

“I’m going to do my best to provide quality of education to all of my children and your children too,” said Chung, who has two daughters attending district schools.

Supporters of other applicants called Chung an unknown quantity. The district’s labor union leadership wanted David Montgomery, a painter, who ran unsuccessfully for office in November and has sharply criticized district leadership. A contingent from Hawaiian Gardens wanted a board member from outside Cerritos. The late Criss, an Artesia resident, was the only board member who did not live in Cerritos.

Chung is the board’s first Korean member, and has chaired a district advisory committee of Korean parents. About 35% of the district’s 21,500 students are Asian. Koreans compose the largest Asian group and are the fastest-growing ethnic group in the school system. Board member Jim Weisenberger said he hopes that Chung will provide a communication bridge with the Asian community.

“Charlie Chung is recognized in the community as a respected individual,” Weisenberger said. “His educational background, his personal accomplishments after being an immigrant from Korea. His involvement in many community organizations. . . . He is a genuine gentleman.”

Chung owns a Cerritos real estate company and also works as a fiber-optics engineer for GTE-West in Pomona. He received business and technical degrees from institutions in Korea, Japan and the former West Germany. He speaks English and Korean and can read German and Japanese.

He said his technical background will serve his goal of bringing more technology into schools. He also wants to help get parents more involved in the education of their children.

Leaders of the teachers union said that the new board member should have been chosen from among applicants who ran in the November board election.

“We believe the community would have more familiarity with people who were on the ballot last time,” said Joan Elliot, interim co-president of the ABC Federation of Teachers.

Other employee unions had also supported Montgomery in the November election. They said he would have been a voice of dissent.

Montgomery challenged the board leadership in his application for the position. “District decisions are bargained and decided upon before they ever hit the boardroom,” he wrote. The allegation did not endear him to some board members. Montgomery did get first-ballot votes, however, from trustees Sally Morales Havice and Cecy Groom, the board’s other Asian member.

The board majority also came under attack for choosing a board member from Cerritos. The school district also serves Artesia, Hawaiian Gardens and parts of Lakewood and Norwalk.

“It’s common knowledge that the citizens of Hawaiian Gardens have been trying to get someone on the school board,” said Pete Schnaufer, a staff member of the district union for food workers, custodians and transportation workers. “Most of us feel that Hawaiian Gardens is underrepresented on the school board.”

The Hawaiian Gardens municipal employees union took the unusual step of endorsing former Hawaiian Gardens City Council member H. M. “Lennie” Wagner.

After Chung’s selection, Montgomery vowed to lead a petition drive to force a special election. He needs 619 signatures, or at least 1 1/2%, of the district’s registered voters. Most board members opposed holding an election because they said it would cost at least $50,000.

Chung said he is prepared to campaign to keep his seat, which expires in November, 1993.