Former Trustee Returns to Fill Vacancy on Castaic School Board : Education: Jack Johnson, who served six terms before his defeat in ‘91, is appointed over two other applicants.

A venerable former trustee is back on the Castaic Union School District board, filling a post vacated two months ago by a trustee who moved out of the area.

Jack Johnson, 70, was appointed by a 4-0 vote Wednesday night and will return to the board where he served six terms before being defeated in 1991. He will be sworn in at the board’s March 17 meeting.

“I think what he will bring to the board is history, stability,” said Supt. Scott Brown. “If the Castaic school board can have what is called an elder statesman, Jack is it.”

Johnson said he was eager to return and hoped to avoid personality clashes that have occurred in recent years.

Feuding among trustees culminated in the November election with a slate of candidates blasting the district for low test scores, inadequate bus maintenance and Brown’s use of a district credit card for personal items he later repaid. The slate, led by former Trustee Gloria Mercado, lost the election.

“I don’t like the way things have been going in the years since I’ve been gone,” said Johnson. “The school board is not a city council. It’s not every person for themselves; it’s a team.”

Two other Castaic residents applied for the seat as well--Tom Caesar, an adult-education teacher who instructs at Peter J. Pitchess Honor Rancho for the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District, and Rika Wakelin, a parent and graduate student at Cal State Northridge.

Trustee Dirk Gosda said all three candidates were qualified, but that he was especially impressed by Johnson’s participation in volunteer events in Castaic.

“Jack has been a guy that’s always there to help out,” Gosda said. “I place a lot of value in that. I like the guys that get in there and get their hands dirty.”

Gosda said he was disappointed more people did not apply for the post.

The seat was vacated Dec. 17 by Bruce Fox, who quit after moving from Castaic to Santa Clarita’s Valencia community to be closer to his in-laws and to raise his son there. Trustees are required to live in the school district they serve.

Johnson will serve the remaining two years of the four-year term.