Moorpark School Board Fills Vacancy, Draws Protests : * Personnel: Gary Cabriales is a commercial airline pilot. Residents who wanted an election plan to circulate a petition to force a vote.

After four hours of intense questioning, the Moorpark school board early Friday appointed Gary Cabriales to serve the remainder of the term vacated by former board President Sam K. Nainoa.

A commercial airline pilot and one of five residents who had sought Nainoa’s seat, Cabriales was Moorpark High School’s valedictorian in 1974. After leaving Moorpark for the U.S. Air Force Academy and stints in Arizona and West Germany, he returned to the city with his family four years ago.

“I grew up here, this is where I’ve always called home and I’m thrilled to return and to be able to make a difference,” said Cabriales, 37, who was sworn in Friday. The school board meeting began Thursday evening.

But Cabriales’ appointment may be short-lived.

Residents who have criticized the board for naming its own successor instead of scheduling an election said Friday they are considering circulating a petition to gather signatures in an effort to force an election.

“The petition forms are being printed at this moment,” said Eloise Brown, a former councilwoman who has lobbied the board to put the matter on the ballot.

“I want an election and whoever is elected is fine with me,” Brown said. “I don’t think an appointment is justified. I think you need to earn your seat there and you need to earn the votes of the people you’re representing.”

Nainoa resigned from the board June 4, saying work obligations would cause him to leave the district for extended periods. The remaining board members voted unanimously to appoint a replacement, citing the expense of holding an election and the expiration of Nainoa’s term in November, 1994.

Critics of the appointment have 30 days to submit the signatures of 175 registered voters to the county superintendent of schools office to force an election, county elections officials said.

If county officials certify the petition by July 5, the matter could be included on a countywide ballot scheduled for November at a cost to the district of about $10,000, the officials said. If that deadline is not met, a special election costing the district about $30,000 would have to be held within 120 days.

Either way, Cabriales would lose his appointed seat.

Cabriales said he would run in a special election, but the prospect did not faze the newly seated board member early Friday, as he hugged supporters and his parents after the board’s decision.

“They said ‘Be here at 7:30’ and I assumed that they’d ask us some questions,” Cabriales said. “I had no idea of the length or the pointedness of the questions.”

The other applicants were David Pollock, who chairs a committee studying a possible realignment of the district’s elementary schools; William Moshier, another member of the committee; Robert Coughlon, a private Moorpark attorney; and Ted Green, the education chairman for the Ventura County NAACP.

In addition to philosophical queries on educational issues, Cabriales and the other four applicants were asked to assign letter grades to various aspects of the district and their opinions on such heated issues as budget cuts and negotiations with the city over sale of a former school site for a downtown park.

After the first round of questioning, the board split on the candidates, with board members Clint Harper and Tom Baldwin opting for Moshier, board president Pam Castro choosing Pollock and board member Greg Barker voting for Cabriales.

But Moshier lost Harper’s support during the second round of questioning, with his response to a query from Harper about whether the district should continue to spend money busing students to ensure ethnic and racial balance at each school. Moshier replied that the district should try and find less costly ways of reaching that goal.

After hearing the response, Harper said he could no longer support Moshier because of his views on integration and switched his vote to Cabriales. Barker and Castro also voted for Cabriales on the second ballot.

Baldwin--who cast his second vote for Moshier--asked to make the board’s action unanimous after it was clear that Cabriales had won selection.