Slavkin May Seek School Board Seat in New District : Education: A reelection bid by the Westside trustee could set up a clash with Valley-based Julie Korenstein. He holds a meeting in Canoga Park.

A Los Angeles school board member from the Westside said Tuesday he is considering running for reelection next spring in a district that includes the western San Fernando Valley--setting up a possible clash with Valley-based board member Julie Korenstein.

Mark Slavkin, making a controversial appearance before 40 parents and educators in Canoga Park, was asked, “Why are you here tonight?”

He replied that he is “looking to the future and to potentially running” for reelection in a newly drawn district that combines the West Valley with part of the Westside.

But Slavkin rejected a characterization of his appearance as strictly an early vote-getting foray, saying he also wanted to learn more about Valley issues.

The “town hall meeting” he organized at Columbus Junior High School was meant to “expand the dialogue” between Los Angeles Unified School District officials and the community, he said. “We all have to become more well-informed about the whole.”

Korenstein, who had previously rebuked Slavkin for planning a forum in her territory without notifying her, sat silently in the audience, except to answer occasional questions directed to her.

The meeting was Slavkin’s first formal visit to the Valley since new school board boundaries were drawn this past summer after spirited debate. The reapportionment threw incumbents Slavkin and Korenstein into a newly constituted District 4, which runs as far north as Porter Ranch in the northwest San Fernando Valley and as far south as Los Angeles International Airport.

Slavkin has not yet officially declared for reelection, but some Valley residents had accused him of politicking, characterizing Tuesday’s meeting as a thinly veiled campaign appearance well in advance of the spring elections.

Slavkin earlier this week said the forum was simply a way for him to continue to broaden his horizons beyond the Westside. But he also acknowledged that the recent redistricting made it more important for him to become better known in the Valley.

Tuesday night, Slavkin fielded a wide variety of questions on issues affecting the mammoth school system, which is facing a $400-million budget shortfall this year. The 28,000 members of the Los Angeles Teachers Union are voting this week on whether to authorize a strike rather than accept a 9% pay cut on top of a 3% cut they received last year.

Slavkin told members of the audience--half of them teachers--that the salary reductions were “absolutely horrific, undeserved and just in every way a tragedy.” But he defended the cuts as necessary to avoid large layoffs.

Also, addressing an issue revived in the wake of this summer’s bitter redistricting battle, Slavkin said he opposes splitting the Valley off to form its own school district. He argued that such a move would still not achieve the local control over schools that he has championed.

According to the new district map, Korenstein remains the District 4 board member, while Slavkin still technically represents District 2, which now covers East Los Angeles, Huntington Park, Bell and South Gate.