CYPRESS : Longtime Trustee Quits School Board

Ventura Cornejo Jr., who has been on the Cypress School District Board of Trustees for nearly 25 years, resigned this week because he is retiring from his teaching job with the Anaheim Union High School District.

“Mr. Cornejo has been a real advocate of students,” said Cypress Supt. William Eller. “He philosophically believes our future is our children and that through good education for them, they can be anything they want to be. He has also been a historical reference person for our district. He has always provided us with background information because of his long service in this district.”

Cornejo, 62, said in an interview Thursday that he will continue to work as a volunteer in the Cypress district. He said he will now pursue a second career as a real estate salesman.

Cornejo was first elected to the school board in November, 1970, and has served continuously since then. He said that over the years he has been encouraged by the quality of students. “Despite what I read in the papers and see on TV, I haven’t seen a decline in [the quality of] young people,” Cornejo said. “They’re still fine people.”

Cornejo has been teaching in Anaheim Union since 1961. Since 1979 he has been a government and history teacher at Gilbert West Continuation High School.

The Cypress district board announced that it will appoint a successor to Cornejo and will hold a special meeting Tuesday to plan the appointment procedure. District officials said applications for the vacancy would be solicited. The person appointed will serve until the district has school board elections in 1996.

Cornejo was overwhelmingly reelected to another four-year term on the district board last November.

Cornejo and his wife, Lilly, have lived in Cypress 34 years and raised five children, all of whom attended schools in the Cypress district.