Burbank School Board Official Leads Campaign Against Litigious Candidate

The vice president of the Burbank Board of Education has launched a campaign against a school board candidate who has a history of acrimonious legal battles against the board, igniting a bitter eleventh-hour war of words.

Audrey P. Hanson, vice president of the school board, heads a group that includes teachers, parents and law enforcement officials who she described as “fiercely opposed” to the candidacy of Dr. S. Michael Stavropoulos in Tuesday’s election. He is one of four candidates running for two seats on the five-member board.

Hanson said she questioned “the appropriateness of” electing to the board “a person who has been involved in so much litigation” against the district and who she said has been “judged to be a liar by the courts.”

“The board is the employer of everybody who works for the district and sets the policy for students and teachers,” Hanson said. “You have to be first, foremost and fundamentally, basically honest, and be a person of integrity. That’s what we’re concerned about.”

Stavropoulos did not return repeated telephone calls for comment.

But newspaper advertisements paid for by Ted McConkey, a Stavropoulos supporter, refer to Hanson’s efforts as “character assassination,” and accuse her and her supporters of “slinging mud” because they “can’t win on the issues.”

“I took the ad out because I have seen Ms. Hanson and the school board in action over the years and I was outraged that someone would use something so scurrilous and something that really has nothing to do with school issues,” McConkey said, arguing that Stavropoulos’ past legal battles should have no place in the current election debates.

“She is willing to do almost anything to keep him off that board,” McConkey said of Hanson.

Stavropoulos’ stormy relationship with the Board of Education dates back to 1989, when district officials ruled that his then-teen-aged son was ineligible to attend school in Burbank because neither Stavropoulos nor the boy lived in Burbank. Officials said that Stavropoulos maintained a phony residency in the city so he could send his son to John Muir Junior High School in Burbank while the family actually lived in Hollywood.

The doctor took his case to a Municipal Court in Burbank. The judge sided with the Board of Education and, in an unusual move, ruled that Stavropoulos would have to reimburse the district for the year his son spent at the Burbank school.

In another court case, Stavropoulos sued the district over the decision to expel his son after the boy got into a fight with another student. The judge ruled against him.

Stavropoulos often appears at board meetings and is well-known for his outspoken criticism of the school district. He made his first bid for a seat on the board while the residency issue was being decided, prompting allegations that his candidacy was motivated by a vendetta against the board, which Stavropoulos denied.

The dispute between Hanson’s group, dubbed Protect Our Schools, and Stavropoulos erupted into a war of words last week in a local newspaper.

Under the headline “Judge For Yourself,” the advertisement paid for by Protect Our Schools lists eight lawsuits or legal actions that involved Stavropoulos--some of which were suits against the school district. According to the group, the Burbank school district has spent more than $40,000 defending itself against lawsuits brought by Stavropoulos.

“We cannot afford such a person on the Board of Education,” the ad reads.

In response, Stavropoulos and his supporters ran two full-page advertisements accusing Hanson and other members of the board of having their own legal troubles. The ad lists lawsuits by various plaintiffs that McConkey said have been filed against the Burbank Unified School District and its board members, and thus cost the district money.

“Did getting sued disqualify you, Mrs. Kaufman, Mr. Goldwasser and Bill Abbey from the school board. . .?” the ad reads.

The ad attributes the “deplorable conditions” of Burbank schools to the policies of school board members.

Hanson, who is in her 12th year on the board and whose term expires this year, said she decided to launch the campaign after she was contacted by many Burbank residents upset about Stavropoulos’ candidacy.

“I have dozens of people who are working in this effort,” she said. “There are a lot of people who are working quietly in their neighborhoods.”

Members of the group are informing other residents of their position on Stavropoulos, handing out leaflets and copies of an advertisement the group ran in a local newspaper and “rebutting some of the misleading” information spread by Stavropoulos, Hanson said.

Some, like Arne Pearson, president of the Burbank Teachers Assn., are particularly upset with what she said is Stavropoulos’ misrepresentation of the Burbank district as a “sick district” overrun with gangs and drugs.

“We don’t have a sick school district,” Pearson said. “We have a school district that is probably better off than most school districts in L.A. County. We are proud of our school district.”

During a news conference earlier this week, members of the group voiced their opposition to Stavropoulos, recounting past legal actions and incidents involving the candidate.

Among them was Police Sgt. Janice Lowers, who said, “We represent law and order and it’s difficult for any of us to endorse somebody who has a position that they’re above the law.”

Lowers said she was outraged when she learned that the Burbank Police Officers Assn. had endorsed Stavropoulos. After she and other members of the association protested, the endorsement was rescinded, Lowers said.

McConkey said voters should judge candidates on the issues concerning the schools, “not on a smear campaign.”

“If you’re going to fight, fight fair. Don’t apply one set of standards to yourself and another to someone else,” he said, accusing Hanson of being involved in lawsuits similar to Stavropoulos’.

He said Stavropoulos has many supporters in Burbank, including teachers and other school district employees who are “scared to speak out,” for fear of retaliation by board members and their supporters.

He also questioned the truth of some of the allegations raised by Hanson’s group.

If Stavropoulos “had done half the things he’s being accused of, he’d be in prison serving a life sentence,” McConkey said.

As election day draws nearer, both sides plan to step up their efforts.

An advertisement opposing Stavropoulos paid for and signed by 64 members of the Burbank Police Officers Assn. was scheduled to run in today’s edition of the Burbank Leader, Lowers said.

Stavropoulos supporters plan to run an ad in the same issue, questioning the legality of Hanson’s committee, McConkey said, adding: “It’s going to get even more heated.”