PLACENTIA YORBA LINDA : School Trustees Veto Election Proposal

A proposal to elect school board members by areas rather than at large was vetoed this week by the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District Board of Trustees.

The request was made by Richard Wiedemann, a Placentia resident with children at Wagner Elementary and Tuffree Junior High schools. Wiedemann claims the current school board, with four of the five trustees from Yorba Linda, does not adequately represent Placentia schools.

“When you have 80% of the board representing one small area, it is hard to get real representation,” Wiedemann said in an interview Friday.

He wants the district to be divided into five areas. Residents would elect one trustee from each area to serve on the board.

But the trustees said such action would further divide the district, which serves Placentia, Yorba Linda and portions of Fullerton, Anaheim and Brea.

“My opinion is that this would make divisiveness worse,” Trustee Judy Miner said. “It appears to promote parochialism.”

Wiedemann’s request was prompted by recent school boundary changes, which affect the north Placentia area. Most affected was Brookhaven Elementary School, which will lose up to 150 students who live three to five miles from the school and are now assigned to attend a closer school.

Wiedemann said he does not think the results would have been different if the board included one or two more Placentia residents. However, he said, the boundary changes might have been more palatable.

“There would have been more information, more alternatives offered,” if Placentia was better represented, he said.

By declining to place the issue on a future agenda for action, the board essentially denied Wiedemann’s request that voters be allowed to decide if they want to change the way trustees are elected. Wiedemann could bypass the board by obtaining 250 signatures of residents who support a ballot measure, but he said he does not plan to pursue that course for fear of retribution.

“I don’t want any retaliation coming back at Wagner,” he said. “But if Placentia continues to be hammered someone will take up the mantle.”