Religious Right Captures Majority on Vista Board : Education: Ten out of 30 religious conservatives win school seats, but fail to win control of other districts.

Religious conservatives captured a majority of seats on the Vista school board, but failed to win control of school districts in other parts of San Diego County where candidates sought election.

Conservatives won two of three available seats Tuesday to join Vista board member Deidre Holliday in forming a majority.

New board members Joyce Lee and John Tyndall were endorsed by the Southern California Christian Times and the California Pro-Life Council. Linda Rhoades, the only incumbent to win reelection in the district, placed third.

“I cannot believe that the people of Vista allowed this to happen. It’s a sad day for Vista,” ousted school board President Marcia Viger Moore said.

Conservatives lost their bids for majorities on other school districts, including La Mesa-Spring Valley, Lemon Grove and Grossmont-Cuyumaca Community College.

Only 10 of the 30 candidates endorsed by the Christian Times won races this week. In 1990, religious conservatives won dozens of seats in districts throughout the county. Many were accused of running “stealth” campaigns, hiding their conservative views from voters by not attending campaign forums or, in some cases, issuing ballot statements.

In the wake of those victories, two grass-roots organizations formed to expose what they saw as an ultra-conservative movement to take over public school boards. Rita Collier of the Mainstream Voters Project and leaders of the Community Coalition Network rejoiced Wednesday at their victories over the conservatives this week.

“When the voters pay attention to who is running and the candidates are more open, moderates tend to prevail,” Collier said.

Leaders of the conservative movement, including Lamar Keener of the Christian Times, Don Smith of the Christian Coalition and Michaelene Jenkins of the California Pro Life Council, declined to comment Wednesday on the election results.

Moore, defeated along with fellow Vista school board member Lance Vollmer, said she was “saddened, frustrated and angry” by the conservatives’ victories.

Moore and others said they fear the new board members will try to censor books, use sex education courses to preach against abortion, place the biblical doctrine of creationism into the classroom, and eliminate services that go beyond education such as the school breakfast programs for impoverished children, which conservatives view as a government intrusion into family life.

Religious conservatives have accused the Community Coalition Network and the Mainstream Voters Project of “anti-Christian bigotry” and “new age McCarthyism” in their criticism of Christians seeking office. They say liberals have their own agendas for the schools.

Vista incumbent Rhoades predicted that the election of the conservative majority will lead to an era of bitter disagreements over the direction of the district.

“I think the newspapers are going to enjoy covering Vista over the next four years,” Rhoades said. “We are going to have to agree to disagree.”

Lee rejected the notion that the transition would be anything but smooth, saying, “We all want the kids to learn.”

But many of Lee’s educational beliefs, including teaching the biblical theory of creationism in public schools side-by-side with evolution and her supporting a school voucher system that would divert public money to private schools, clash head-on with those of Rhoades and Sandee Carter, the other sitting board member.

Lee, who has been a substitute teacher in Vista Unified for the past three years, said that while she is a Christian, she feels that the “religious right” label has been misapplied to her.