AGOURA HILLS : New Group Draws Little Interest

Two Agoura Hills parents held a recruitment meeting for a new organization to combat apathy among parents of public schoolchildren--but only a dozen parents showed up.

The irony was not lost on Steve Kosloff, one of the organization’s founders, as he looked out over dozens of empty seats in a small auditorium at Agoura High School Thursday evening. He said he did not blame parents, however, because he knows many are busy with other activities that benefit children, such as sports.

“You have to remember that every parent has something to do,” he said. “And if you look at all the parents, all of them are doing something good.”

Some of the parents who did show up--most of whom are already involved in several existing parents’ organizations in the Las Virgenes Unified School District--questioned whether the district needs another parents’ organization.

“Why not work within the existing structure?” said Ron Bara, who is active in a parents’ group at Lindero Canyon Middle School.

Kosloff replied that he had no fixed ideas on how the organization should be structured. The group just wants to get parents and educators talking more about serious problems such as AIDS and drug abuse, he said.

“If I were to have to stand here the rest of the night and defend why we need this group, I would walk out, because that would mean we don’t need it,” Kosloff said.

Kosloff and co-founder Joe Brazier said they want to resurrect the spirit of a defunct organization, Agoura Improvement Mission, that initially was successful but eventually fizzled. Both men were active in the group, which had been praised by parents and educators.

The two found at least one supporter in Vic Deirmendjian, who has four children in district schools. The problem, Deirmendjian said, is that parent groups often are influenced by district bureaucrats and politicians, who are worried about protecting their turf.

This new group, he said, “does not have to worry about ideology filtering down from the top,” he said.

He and others, including Kosloff, said district administrators generally duck more serious issues. School board Chairwoman Barbara Bowman-Fagelson, who attended the meeting, disagreed.

“There is an at-risk committee, and they do meet on a regular basis,” she said.

Bowman-Fagelson and other district officials also complain about parents’ apathy. For instance, she said, attendance is always low at meetings of a drug abuse prevention committee organized by the district.

Some district officials and parents questioned whether Brazier--who backed two conservative Christian school board candidates in an election two years ago--has a hidden agenda. Brazier insists he does not.

He said Thursday that he was upset by such remarks and at one point even considered quitting the fledgling organization, believing his presence would tarnish the group’s image. He decided to stay, he said, because he was more concerned with helping the schools. He said little during Thursday’s meeting.

Bara said despite his reservations about the group, he believed the evening was not a total loss. “Something came out of it: I met two people who are interested in the same things I am.”