ELECTIONS / VENTURA SCHOOL BOARD : Tone of Race Changes as Hopefuls Trade Criticisms : Education: Most of the six vying for three seats agree that the district needs more parental involvement, smaller classes and strict campus security.

As the race for three seats on the Ventura school board enters its final week, some of the six candidates are mussing up the campaign’s so-far polite veneer by taking jabs at their opponents.

One hopeful has criticized a rival for seeking election Nov. 2 despite spending years as a district employee, a move he said could pose a conflict of interest. Another aspirant said he should be elected because he speaks Spanish fluently.

And a third contender said she is better qualified because, unlike most of the other candidates, she has children in Ventura schools and knows the problems firsthand.

“I’m not just one who’s going to talk about the issues,” candidate Velma L. Lomax said.

Because Ventura Unified School District board members May Lee Berry and Terence Kilbride decided not to seek reelection, the field of six contenders includes only one incumbent: John B. Walker, a manager at GTE, who was first elected in 1989.

The other five hopefuls are optometrist Michael Boggs, insurance agent Jim Oliver, bilingual educator Cliff Rodrigues, former Buena High School principal Michael Shanahan and Lomax.

Despite their personal jabs, most of the candidates agree on most things: The schools need more parental involvement, smaller classes and strict campus security.

But one of the aspirants has some views sharply different from his rivals.

Oliver, 34, says he wants schools to put the biblical story of creation on an equal footing with the theory of evolution when teaching students about human origins. He wants the schools to put more emphasis on the validity of creationism.

Abiding by state education guidelines, Ventura schools now teach evolution in science class and creationism in social science, a method that the other five school board candidates said they want to continue.

Oliver said he would support teaching other religious views of creation in addition to the Christian one, as long as they are all given equal time.

Public schools are too concerned about keeping the line between church and state, Oliver said, and, as a result, children are not learning moral or ethical values in class.

“There’s so many things we run away from because they’re mentioned in the Bible,” Oliver said. “We run away from the Ten Commandments because they are mentioned in the Bible. But most of us could agree they’re good things to pattern our lives by.”

Oliver opposes Measure U, the advisory initiative to put all Ventura schools on a year-round calendar. Six of the district’s schools are already year-round.

But, like all of the candidates, Oliver says he will follow voters’ will on the issue.

Although Oliver said he has a core group of about 100 supporters who are helping him walk precincts and pass out flyers, he is planning to spend only $600 to $700, far less than his competitors.

In contrast, Shanahan has already raised $4,000 to cover the costs of making buttons, printing flyers and sending mailers to absentee voters.

Shanahan’s campaign is focusing on his firsthand knowledge of the district. After 26 years as a teacher and dean at Ventura High School, he served for 11 years as principal at Buena High until retiring in 1991.

But some current board members question whether Shanahan’s work experience in the district would be more of a drawback than an asset.

The board already has one member who is retired from the district, former teacher Diane Harriman. She is unable to vote on matters affecting retirees because of a potential conflict of interest, Berry said.

Berry said she is concerned that if Shanahan is elected, only three district trustees would be able to vote on retirement issues.

Shanahan said he does not think that it would be a problem if two board members had to abstain from certain votes.

As a board member, Shanahan says, one of his priorities would be to encourage community members and parents to work closely with teachers and school officials.

“When we open the doors to parents and get the parents back involved in the schools, we’re going to have better schools,” he said.

Shanahan said he is against Measure U because he believes that year-round education would not work well at the district’s two high schools.

Despite his long tenure in the district, Shanahan did not get the endorsement of the local teachers union, the Ventura Unified Education Assn.

The association did not even consider Shanahan, union officials said, because he failed to respond to their request for an interview.

Instead, both the teachers association and the union of clerical workers and maintenance staff endorsed Walker, Rodrigues and Lomax.

Like Oliver and Shanahan, Boggs failed to get the unions’ approval.

But Boggs said he isn’t concerned. “I think the endorsement is the kiss of death,” he said.

Although both his parents were public schoolteachers, the 36-year-old Boggs said he could not promise union officials that he would be pro-union.

“A lot of people want the board to be autonomous, not necessarily beholden to certain groups,” he said. “I want to represent everybody in the district. I want to look at the whole picture.”

Boggs, who expects to spend about $2,000 on the race, echoed Berry’s concern that Shanahan’s election would mean that there were two district retirees on the board.

He said he also was skeptical that lifelong public school employees--such as Shanahan and Rodrigues--could bring a fresh, critical eye to the issues. “If you come from one direction,” he said, “you’re going to have one perspective.”

As a board member, Boggs said he would emphasize teaching computers and other technologies and may push for a bond issue to finance improvements at the schools.

Like Shanahan and Oliver, Boggs said he opposes the proposal for districtwide year-round education.

Despite their jabs at some of their opponents, neither Boggs nor any of the other candidates are taking aim at one rival: incumbent Walker.

If reelected, Walker said one of his primary goals would be to hire a retired teacher as a volunteer coordinator to increase community involvement at the schools. He also said he supports Measure U.

The 47-year-old Walker said he is mainly running on his record.

Since he was elected, Walker points out, the board has restored the district to financial health by revamping a generous employee-benefits package that previously gave all retirees lifetime medical coverage.

Walker, who has raised $3,000 for his reelection campaign, is also proud that he has fulfilled a pledge to cut fat at the district office.

Over the past few years, the district eliminated the positions of 16 administrators and managers. At the same time, the board laid off 23 teachers and 21 maintenance workers and clerical staff.

But this year, the district was able to hire 17 new elementary teachers, reducing the average class size in kindergarten through fifth grades from 34 to 30.

Another of Walker’s campaign pledges four years ago was to raise teacher morale. He points out that the unpopular former superintendent, Cesare Caldarelli, left the district during Walker’s first term.

The board deserves some credit for the departure of Caldarelli, who called in his resignation from a Burger King in Iowa, because they had been pressuring him to accept a new, less attractive contract, Walker said.

Aware of the school board’s recent accomplishments, some candidates are implicitly aligning themselves with present board members such as Walker.

“The district has really turned around and is moving forward,” said Rodrigues, 53. “And I want to be part of that positive direction.”

Like Shanahan, Rodrigues has made a career in public education.

After teaching Spanish for seven years at Cabrillo Middle School in Ventura, he took a job with the county superintendent of schools, where he has been for 21 years.

Now director of media, technology and bilingual education, Rodrigues sends state-approved films and videos to schools, and runs workshops on bilingual and computer education for teachers.

This is not Rodrigues’ first race for the Ventura school board: In 1991, he placed fourth out of 12 candidates vying for two seats.

He has already spent about $5,500 on this campaign, more than any other candidate.

Rodrigues said his priorities as a board member would be making long-postponed repairs to school buildings and giving long-deferred raises to the district’s 650 teachers.

“Where am I going to get the money, I have no idea at this point,” he said. “When funds do become available, we need to make (raises) one of our priorities.”

He said he also supports the year-round education initiative.

Rodrigues points out that he is the only bilingual candidate among the six. “My Latino background does give me another kind of understanding of a part of the population that some of the other candidates may not have,” he said.

Just as Rodrigues is the only Latino, Lomax is the only woman in the race and the only candidate--except Oliver--who can claim to have a child in Ventura schools.

Children of the other four candidates have either graduated or not yet begun school.

“I feel we need a parent perspective on the board,” said Lomax, who has raised $2,100 for her campaign.

Now president of the Ventura High Parent-Teacher Assn., where her 16-year-old daughter Ronae is a junior, Lomax has been a volunteer at local schools for 12 years.

Lomax, 42, supports the proposal for year-round education, although she said she would follow the decision of voters on the issue.

If elected, Lomax said she would work to get more parents and residents to volunteer at the schools and to encourage board members to seek the opinions of students on educational issues.

“I am an absolute advocate of student involvement,” she said. “You get a totally different perspective when you’re talking to kids.”