ELECTIONS : VENTURA UNIFIED SCHOOL BOARD : 2 Incumbents Say They Kept Their Promises

Four years ago, 16 competitors vied for two seats on the Ventura Unified School District board, each promising to restore calm to a district besieged by budget woes and employee battles.

Voters elected Diane Harriman and Jim Wells. And the two incumbents say they have done just what they promised: establish harmonious relations between district managers and teachers.

The 15,000-student district has not only survived lean years of state funding and internal political friction, it is poised to begin installing a new $900,000 state-of-the-art computer system that will finally link students with the Internet.

And now the most important issues to Harriman and Wells--seeking reelection to four-year terms--are the need to concentrate on improving educational technology and to address the growing problem of overcrowding in east Ventura schools.

But their sole challenger on November’s ballot, Ventura church leadership trainer Jeffery McCann, said he sees a lot of other things that need improvement.

In addition to reducing class sizes, McCann accuses the district of failing to consult parents enough on curriculum and financial issues. He also says the district wastes money on administrative costs instead of funneling it straight to classrooms in the 25-school district.

Most importantly, McCann says, the district needs to change its approach to sex education. Teachers should emphasize abstinence and talk less about methods of contraception, he said.

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He also is concerned that some Ventura educators may be encouraging students to view homosexuality as a legitimate alternative lifestyle, a view he opposes.

“I feel America is in a kick-em-out mood, as shown by the last elections,” McCann said. “If you read the incumbents’ statements, they seem to be saying that everything is OK. And I don’t think everyone is buying that everything is OK.”

By most measures, this fall’s election has little resemblance to the frenetic contest four years ago. In 1991, the district was reeling from budget-cutting sessions that left dozens of teaching and support staff positions unfilled, devastated supply budgets and stripped extras such as driver’s education and art classes.

And teachers were revolting against their boss, former Ventura schools Supt. Cesare Caldarelli Jr.

Relations today between employees and current Supt. Joseph Spirito are excellent, said John Weiss, president of the 650-member Ventura Unified Education Assn.

The union has voted to endorse the reelection of Harriman and Wells, Weiss said.

Harriman said she is running a low-key campaign, attending a few candidates forums to outline her views and filing a candidate’s statement in the sample ballot.

“We’re still going to have to run, but I don’t think we’re going to have to run as hard as we did last time,” said Harriman, 66, a retired high school teacher.

Harriman cites the return of harmonious employee relations as an accomplishment of her first term. She is also proud of a character-traits program that requires students to focus on a monthly virtue such as honesty or courtesy, Harriman said.

Wells, 53, a funeral director, also points to improved employee conditions and the character-development curriculum as triumphs of his first term. And he wants now to turn to technology as the focus of his second four years, Wells said.

“We are really going to go full bore on this for the next four years.”

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Both Harriman and Wells say they are concerned about overcrowding in some east Ventura classrooms. They will consider a variety of options to relieve the problem, including adding portables, building new schools and ferreting out students who give false addresses to attend a favored school, Harriman and Wells said.

McCann, 28, is in charge of leadership training for teachers and youth pastors at Trinity Community Church in Ventura.

Although open about his strong Christian beliefs--including advocating that creationism should be taught alongside evolution--he denied an accusation by Harriman that he is a “stealth religious right” candidate.

“I would be opposed to teaching Christianity as the only belief,” he said. “I oppose any special-interest group.”