Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Recall Vote Ousts District Board Member : Acton-Agua Dulce: Three businessmen join school panel. Voters remove veteran who was criticized for supporting controversial site of new campus.

A turbulent election in the Acton-Agua Dulce Unified School District ended with a board member being recalled by nearly a 3-1 margin and a group of three businessmen who ran together being elected decisively to the five-member board.

More than 73% of the 1,919 people casting ballots in the recall election voted to oust five-year board member Laurelyn Browning, criticized by many supporting the recall because of her rigid support of a controversial site for the district’s first high school.

Browning could not be reached for comment Wednesday, but indicated a few days before the election she would not be surprised by a defeat.

“There are casualties in war,” she said in the interview. “I’m not what’s the issue here. The important issue is that we move forward for our children.”

Business owner Jim Duzick was selected by 66% of voters to fill Browning’s spot, with two other candidates splitting the remaining ballots.

The open board seats were the result of two board members who resigned last year. The positions were filled by engineer Martin Barofsky and business owner Fred Fate.

They will be sworn in at the board’s March 23 meeting.

The three men campaigned together, each saying that a new location had to be found for the school project. The proposed site, on a hillside in Wallace Canyon, had been favored by Browning. But recall proponents said the site was too expensive to develop and the district was wasting money due to Browning’s insistence it continue to be studied.

“We need to get some realism in looking for a new site that we can build right now,” Fate said Wednesday.

But Barofsky said that even though the three winners campaigned together, they have differing opinions on some issues.

“I don’t want people to get it in their heads that the ‘Gruesome Threesome’ is on the board now and all votes are going to be 3-2,” Barofsky said. “We ran as a ticket, but we are striving solely for board unity.”

Indeed, Fate and Barofsky have differing ideas on where the school should be located.

In addition to issues concerning the new school, Fate said he wants to concentrate on upgrading the curriculum by adding more advanced classes and electives at the high school local students now attend in Acton.

“They’ve got math classes, but they have classes that will not challenge a kid, so parents are pulling their kids out and sending them to Palmdale,” Fate said.

Barofsky said the district might be able to maximize its limited resources by restricting how often it offers certain classes, similar to a plan used by high schools in Mammoth.

“This year they might offer chemistry, but not biology,” he said. “We would not offer every course every year, but put together under a four-year umbrella every student would be exposed to every subject.”

Board President Bruce Nahin said he is looking forward to working with the new board members, stating Duzick is a friend of his and Barofsky and Fate “served admirably” during terms they served on the board.

He said he is glad to have five members on the board again because all three current board members had to agree on an issue for it to be approved. In addition, he hopes it will end meetings that in the past have turned into shouting matches.

“Three businessmen have been elected,” he said. “Maybe the meetings will be run more businesslike.”

Voters in the area also rejected an advisory ballot on the private-owned Agua Dulce Air Park, which is up for sale by its owner. The ballot asked if residents would be in favor of turning it into a county-run airport.

About 66% of the 835 people casting ballots voted against the issue.

The ballot was non-binding; the Board of Supervisors will make the final decision concerning county ownership of the facility.

But Joanne Swanson, co-chairwoman of the Agua Dulce Civic Assn.’s ad-hoc committee, said she thinks supervisors will follow the voters’ decision.