ELECTIONS : School Board Races Generate Very Little Excitement, Debate

This fall’s South Bay school board races will not go down as history’s hardest-fought.

Far from it. Though six South Bay school districts are holding elections Tuesday, the debate has been scarce and the candidates few--only 26, not many, considering there are 18 board seats up for election.

The only hint of disagreement is found in the South Bay’s two largest districts, where the subjects of long-running controversies--a year-old homeowners tax in Torrance and a 1991 high school consolidation on the peninsula--are finding echo in the fall campaign.

Some incumbents, naturally, are taking the dearth of debate as a vote of confidence.

“If there were dissatisfaction,” said William Blischke, president of the Torrance school board, “I think there would be a long line of people trying to get us out.”

Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified

On the peninsula, where three seats are up for grabs, Brenton Goodrich is the only incumbent running for reelection. Board members Marlys Kinnel and Jeffrey Younggren decided not to run for another term.

Goodrich, who is seeking a second four-year term, said district cost-cutting steps, such as the consolidation of the three peninsula high schools and the elimination last year of 35 administrative support positions, is saving the school system major sums.

“We are saving more than $1 million per year,” said Goodrich, 51.

In the high school consolidation, Miraleste High and Palos Verdes High were closed, and a new high school, Palos Verdes Peninsula High, was opened on the site of what had been the peninsula’s third high school--Rolling Hills High.

Goodrich, an attorney, says he is happy with the district’s academic performance, which has been among the strongest in the state. But he says he is seeking reelection to push for further improvement.

“We need to modernize the learning environment by improving the physical plant and adding more technology,” he said.

Goodrich has raised $14,000 for his campaign.

Challenger Mintra Sharma said consolidation of the peninsula’s high schools two years ago is still an issue because it has hurt schooling--and angered parents.

“Now, we have 3,000 students at one high school, and most parents are not happy about it,” she said. “ . . . If the issue was on the table I would vote to rescind (the consolidation.)”

Sharma, 36, who taught elementary school in Los Angeles Unified School District for 17 years, said public education must be made more competitive to cut down on private-school flight.

Sharma has raised $1,500.

Another challenger, Roxanne Morse, 48, said she does not favor revisiting the consolidation issue.

“We can’t keep talking about the past, or rethinking what happened,” she said. “As a board, we need to focus on instructional and capital improvements, and move forward, while getting the community behind us.”

Instead, she said, the district should tend to more immediate questions--whether it is getting the best return possible by leasing surplus school sites, for instance.

“(We must) prioritize, look at our assets to see if we are getting the pay-back we want, and then determine whether or not we need to look at the sale of the sites.”

Morse, who works as a community volunteer, has been endorsed by the Palos Verdes Faculty Assn. She has raised $22,000.

Candidate Peter Gardiner said that since the district is the largest employer on the peninsula, “It should be run like a business.” An associate professor in the systems management department at the University of Southern California, he said he is well-qualified to make the school system more efficient.

Gardiner has raised $8,600 in campaign contributions.

Rival Cyndi Demboski said she would try to forge partnerships with corporations to provide more money and other resources for peninsula schools. Demboski, 44, has been endorsed by the Palos Verdes Faculty Assn., and has raised $4,500. She has raised an addition $3,500 through personal loans.

A sixth candidate, Ellen Perkins, an estate planning attorney, charges that the current board has failed to adopt long-range funding plans.

“Once you establish what your priorities are for funding, you can look to local sources, like corporate partnerships, or grants,” she said, adding that the district must rebuild community support for its schools.

Perkins, 41, said she would also like to see the district strengthen math and science programs. She has raised $13,521 for her campaign, and has been endorsed by the Palos Verdes Faculty Assn.

Torrance Unified

In Torrance, two incumbents and two challengers are competing for three school board seats. Two seats on the five-member board are not up for election.

Ann Gallagher, the third incumbent, is not seeking reelection because she wants to spend more time with her ailing parents, she said.

Blischke, the board president, said that if reelected to a third four-year term, he will push for “school-based management,” an effort to give teachers and principals more autonomy.

“We would like to see the teachers and parents working with the principal at each school site, to try to create the kind of school they want,” he said.

He also said that during his eight years on the board, the district has seen the share of minority students increase to about 46%. Another of his priorities, he said, would be to ensure that the district avoids racial tension by viewing cultural diversity as “something to be valued, not a problem.”

Before winning election to the Torrance Unified school board, Blischke was a member of the Redondo Beach Unified School District’s governing board. He has received the endorsement of the Torrance Teachers Assn., and has raised $4,000 for his campaign.

The other incumbent standing for reelection is John Eubanks, who said he is seeking a second term to complete work on programs such as a child care service for working parents with children in the school system.

Eight elementary schools in the 31-school district offer child care under the program, which receives support from the Young Women’s Christian Assn. Eubanks said he would like to expand the service to include 17 other Torrance elementary schools.

Eubanks, 48, an engineering manager for the Internal Revenue Service, has raised $6,000. He is endorsed by the Torrance Teachers Assn.

Robert Thompson, one of only two challengers in the race, said he decided to run for a seat on the school board to fight the year-old homeowners tax. The levy, $25 a year for homes, $17 a year for apartments and $60 annually for commercial buildings, raises money to help pay for the maintenance of school yards.

Local members of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer Assn. sought unsuccessfully to block the levy in court. Thompson said the tax should be overturned: “The school district is not empowered to be a taxing agency.”

A Torrance resident for 22 years, Thompson, 52, is an electronics engineer. He has been endorsed by the Madrona Homeowners Assn.

He claims to have received no campaign contributions. “I circulate handbills made on my own computer, and make copies for two cents each,” said Thompson, who made an unsuccessful run for school board in 1991. “And I used the same campaign signs I used when I ran two years ago. I don’t want to owe money to anyone.”

The other non-incumbent in the Torrance race is Gary Kuwahara, a member of the Torrance Parks and Recreation Commission. Kuwahara, 39, said he supported the homeowners tax.

“In terms of the safety factor, maintaining school grounds for the benefit of the whole was the proper thing to do,” said Kuwahara.

Kuwahara is endorsed by the Torrance Teachers Assn., and has raised $10,000.

South Bay School Races

The following is a list of candidates in the other South Bay school board elections Tuesday:

WISEBURN ELEMENTARY (3 seats)

Name: Gloria Gallela*

Occupation: Homemaker

Age: 38

Name: Walter Guerrero*

Occupation: Public relations consultant

Age: 60

Name: Ron Nathanson*

Occupation: Textile broker and consultant

Age: 64

Name: Walker G. Williams

Occupation: Teacher at Lloyd High School, a continuation campus in the Centinela Valley Union High School District

Age: 39

HAWTHORNE ELEMENTARY (3 seats)

Name: James E. Baker

Occupation: Los Angeles police officer

Age: 40

Name: Shirley M. Duff

Occupation: Medical records transcriber

Age: 46

Name: Eleanor Escalante

Occupation: Retired former principal of Yukon Intermediate School

Age: 67

Name: Xavier Uribe

Occupation: Technical education and training curriculum manager

Age: 42

EL SEGUNDO UNIFIED (3 seats)

Name: Lorraine Loflin

Occupation: Labor representative

Age: 47

Name: Nancy M. Wernick*

Occupation: Business consultant

Age: 46

Name: Kenneth N. Schofield*

Occupation: real estate broker

Age: 50

Name: Christine M. Sherrill*

Occupation: Travel consultant

Age: 50

LAWNDALE ELEMENTARY (3 seats)

Name: Bonnie J. Coronado*

Occupation: Aerospace employee

Age: 38

Name: Uffe Moller

Occupation: Electronics technician

Age: 50

Name: Ann M. Phillips

Occupation: Homemaker

Age: 37

Name: Shirley Rudolph*

Occupation: Community volunteer

Age: 51

* Denotes incumbent