ELECTIONS : OXNARD SCHOOL DISTRICT : 3 Latinos Campaign for Ethnic Diversity

The three challengers running for Oxnard’s high school district board differ on matters ranging from how to curb school violence to whether the district should prepare all students for college.

But on one thing they agree: The Oxnard Union High School District board should be more ethnically diverse.

The challengers--Margaret Cortese, Carlos J. DeMoss and Robert Q. Valles--are all Latinos from Oxnard. And they are running against three white incumbents--Jean Daily-Underwood, Nancy Koch and Janet Lindgren--who all live within a few miles of each other in northwest Camarillo.

Although 70% of the district’s 12,500 students are minorities and more than half are Latino, the school board has had only one minority trustee--board member Fred Judy, a black Oxnard pastor who was elected in 1992.

No Latino has ever won election to the board.

In a race with few hot issues, both challengers and incumbents said the outcome of the election may depend partly on ethnic identity.

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Koch, Lindgren and Daily-Underwood point to accomplishments that even some of the challengers laud: tougher graduation requirements, lower dropout rates and the added presence of police officers at district schools.

Besides stricter academic standards and safer campuses that benefit all students, the trustees point to their two-year effort to boost multicultural awareness among teachers, staff and students at the district’s five high schools and one continuation school.

A districtwide reading list that once consisted primarily of white European authors like Dickens and Shakespeare now includes Latin American writers like Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Isabel Allende.

Koch, Lindgren and Daily-Underwood also take credit for the district’s good relations with its teachers’ union and other employee organizations.

The Oxnard Federation of Teachers endorsed the three incumbents and offered each of them money without interviewing any of the candidates.

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Lindgren and Daily-Underwood each accepted $333 from the union, while Koch turned the money down to avoid the paperwork of campaign finance reports. Teachers’ union President Darrell Larkin said the incumbents “care about our teachers. They care about our health plan and our retirement plan.” Of the three incumbents, Koch is the newest to the board.

When she was elected in 1990, she campaigned as a district parent. The youngest of Koch’s four children graduated from Rio Mesa High in 1992, but she said she still brings a parent’s perspective to the board.

Koch points to the board’s recent success at raising academic standards, including increasing the number of courses required for graduation. And it was Koch who suggested the board go even further and require students to have at least a C average to graduate, a proposal now under consideration.

And to help students focus on their futures, Koch, like Daily-Underwood, advocates more individual attention for students. To this end, the board has recently tried to reduce the paperwork of its overworked school counselors.

To win reelection, Koch plans to spend about $2,300 of her own money on signs and newspaper ads.

In campaign spending, Daily-Underwood leads the pack. Her war chest exceeds $10,000--more than any other school board candidate in the county.

But Daily-Underwood, who has served on the board 20 years, said she will need every bit of the money to cover the costs of mailers, ads and signs. “You run to win,” she said.

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A mother of four children who attended Camarillo High and an active community volunteer, Daily-Underwood said she wants to remain on the board because of her dedication to young people. “It’s a labor of love,” she said.

And while Cortese, DeMoss and Valles said the board needs fresh blood, Daily-Underwood said two trustees--Steve Stocks and Judy--took office just two years ago. Having veterans like herself and Lindgren gives the board continuity, Daily-Underwood said.

One of her biggest concerns, Daily-Underwood said, is boosting students’ morale and motivation. Students may take school more seriously, she said, if they dress more seriously. If reelected, she said she wants to establish a stricter dress code for both students and teachers that would ban “stuff you see at the beach.”

Janet Lindgren, the board’s senior member, was elected two years before Daily-Underwood, in 1972. Besides her experience on the district board, Lindgren said, she gained statewide perspective on educational issues when she served for 14 years as a director of the California School Boards Assn.

A part-time financial secretary at her church, Lindgren said she brings financial expertise to the board and takes credit for helping steer the district through various financial crises over the years, including recent state funding cuts.

One of her strongest interests is vocational education.

Only about one-quarter of all jobs require a college education, Lindgren said. By looking at students’ grades and test scores at the end of the ninth grade, school officials can help young people decide whether to spend the rest of their high school career taking college-prep courses or vocational training in classes like computers and auto mechanics.

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In a district where only one-fifth of all graduates go on to four-year colleges, the idea of training students to move directly into the job market has wide currency.

But this emphasis on vocational education raises a red flag for challenger Margaret Cortese.

Latinos are sensitive about this issue, she said, because of a fear that school officials may steer Latino students into job training courses rather than the rigorous academics that would prepare them for college.

A clinical psychologist and former board president for the Oxnard-based Latino advocacy group El Concilio, Cortese said she wants the school district to reverse its current direction and encourage all students to take tough academic courses, such as choosing algebra over basic math.

“While I recognize that not all students can achieve it, the setting of the goal” will boost the number of students who do achieve it, she said.

While incumbent trustees have pointed with pride to the district’s lowering its dropout rate to less than 4%, Cortese said she is skeptical of this achievement.

She said the district has put many students who were at risk of quitting school into alternative education programs that generally have less rigorous academic requirements than do regular schools.

But she said the goal of keeping students in school is vital. In fact, she wants the district to strive for a zero dropout rate, with all students graduating.

Cortese has so far raised more than $2,400 for her campaign.

Unlike Cortese, who has various ideas for improving education in the district, challenger Robert Q. Valles said he thinks the district is in very good shape.

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Valles said, however, that most of the credit for any improvement goes to Supt. Bill Studt, Assistant Supt. Gary Davis and other staff people. School board members “hang their hats on these achievements, but 90% of it is the administration,” Valles said.

A human resources manager at Port Hueneme Division Naval Air Weapons Engineering Station who at one time was director of employment programs for all the naval commands in Ventura County, Valles is also active in business. He and his son-in-law own a precision metal-fabrication company.

Valles said that in 1970 he helped found the Hacienda Federal Savings and Loan in Oxnard and later served as vice president. In 1983, federal regulators seized Hacienda Savings because of insolvency, and it was later sold to another thrift institution.

Valles said the savings and loan venture “is not relevant to my campaign.”

As part of his job at Port Hueneme, he has served for 13 years on a committee of local business people who advise the school district on its educational programs.

Although Valles graduated from Oxnard High School in 1954, he chose to send his five children to local private Catholic schools for a religious education. “God is No. 1 in my house,” he said.

If elected, Valles said, he will advocate teaching students moral values by emphasizing the Ten Commandments: “Stress the Ten Commandments--what’s good, what’s bad.” But he said he would not push such moral instruction if parents did not want it.

He has so far raised more than $3,000 for his campaign, including $1,600 of his own money.

Although the district has done very well in responding to the needs of minority students, Valles said, the school board “should represent your population.”

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Carlos DeMoss couldn’t agree more.

An air traffic controller in Hawthorne for the Federal Aviation Administration, DeMoss lost in his first bid to become a school trustee two years ago but decided to run again partly because he thinks the board needs a Latino representative.

But, by his own admission, DeMoss has not done much campaigning so far. He said he has had to work many hours overtime during the past two months, but plans to make a last-minute push in the next few weeks.

DeMoss said he is pleased at some developments in the district, including putting Oxnard police officers on or near the campuses of Oxnard, Hueneme and Channel Islands high schools to reduce violence.

He said the board needs a Latino member “to bring an understanding of what it is like to be Latino in the school system.”

FYI

High school district candidates will appear in a forum sponsored by the PTA Council at 7:45 p.m. Wednesday at Fremont Intermediate School, 1130 N. M St., Oxnard. Information: 487-8812.

Oxnard Union High School District

Incumbents Jean Daily-Underwood, Nancy Koch and Janet Lindgren are running for reelection against challengers Margaret Cortese, Carlos DeMoss and Robert Q. Valles. The 12,500-student district has six campuses in Oxnard and Camarillo.

Margaret Cortese

Age: 54

Occupation: Clinical psychologist

Residence: Oxnard

Education: Bachelor’s degree in secondary education from Incarnate College in San Antonio, Tex.; master’s degree in psychology from Texas Tech University; Ph.D. in psychology from University of North Texas.

Background: Worked as a psychologist for 12 years for the Ventura County Mental Health Department, then began private practice in Oxnard in 1991. Former board president for the Oxnard-based Latino advocacy group El Concilio and board member of the county’s Big Brothers/Big Sisters organization; co-founder of a community theater group.

Issues: Wants the district to strive to bring school dropout rate to zero; advocates hiring more minorities for district and school staffs; says more effort to encourage racial harmony among students would reduce school violence.

Jean Daily-Underwood

Age: 63

Occupation: Oxnard Union High School District trustee

Residence: Camarillo

Education: Oxnard High School graduate; one year at Ventura College.

Background: Elected to high school district board in 1974; also serves on boards of the Camarillo Health Care District, county chapter of the American Red Cross and the Channel Islands Ballet Company; worked 12 years as manager of rental-car franchise business; chairperson for Camarillo’s 1994 United Way campaign; former trustee for Somis Union Elementary School District; has four adult children.

Issues: Advocates a stricter dress code for high school students and teachers; wants to privatize services like school maintenance; emphasizes having counselors and teachers give individual guidance to students; supports stronger vocational education.

Carlos DeMoss

Age: 39

Occupation: Air traffic controller for the Federal Aviation Administration.

Residence: Oxnard

Education: High school graduate; three years at Cal State Fullerton.

Background: Served in the U.S. Army and National Guard; has two children in the Hueneme Elementary School District.

Issues: Wants to put more emphasis on core academic subjects; has opposed construction of the new Oxnard High School on Gonzales Road as a waste of money; wants to investigate privatizing maintenance, food service and other departments to save money.

Nancy Koch

Age: 51

Occupation: Oxnard Union High School District trustee.

Education: BS in nursing from Seattle University.

Residence: Camarillo

Background: Elected to school board in 1990; former president of Parent-Faculty Organization at Rio Mesa High School; served as officer for the county chapter of the National Charity League; has four adult children.

Issues: At Koch’s suggestion, the district is considering requiring students to have at least a C average to graduate; says she brings a parent’s perspective to board because her youngest child graduated just two years ago; supports stronger vocational education.

Janet Lindgren

Age: 66

Occupation: Oxnard Union High School District trustee

Residence: Camarillo

Education: BS in textiles and clothing from Iowa State University.

Background: Elected to school board in 1972; board director for the California School Boards Assn. from 1979 to 1993; works part time as financial secretary for local Methodist church; managed office of husband’s manufacturing business for four years; former officer for Pleasant Valley Hospital auxiliary; former president of Camarillo High School PTA; has three adult children.

Issues: Wants to reach out to students’ parents by offering classes on how to raise teen-agers; says district should boost vocational education because only one-quarter of jobs require college education; emphasizes importance of keeping district financially sound.

Robert Q. Valles

Age: 58

Occupation: Human resources officer for the U.S. Navy base at Port Hueneme.

Residence: Oxnard

Education: BA in industrial arts education from UCLA; BA in business administration from University of LaVerne.

Background: Part owner of a local metal-products manufacturer; helped found the former Hacienda Federal Savings and Loan, where he served as vice-president; taught industrial arts for 11 years at Ventura College; has served 13 years on business advisory committee to school district; chairman of Oxnard Parks and Recreation Commission; past president of parents’ guild at Santa Clara High School, a private Catholic school; has five adult children.

Issues: Supports requiring students to have C average to graduate; wants schools to teach moral values; advocates setting up a Neighborhood Watch-type system at schools by encouraging students to report on classmates who start fights or carry weapons.