Tug of War Pits Moderates Against Conservatives

A mere three weeks before the election, the Conejo Valley school board race is heating up over the issue of how much influence the religious right may eventually have over school policies.

Tagged with the unwanted affiliation, four challengers have sought to shake the religious right label by spelling out their beliefs.

The most outspoken is Paul F. Finman, an electrical engineer running on an anti-administration, pro-technology platform. At a Newbury Park debate Wednesday night, Finman twice lashed out at “rumor-mongering and anti-Christian bigotry” from supporters of the race’s two incumbents.

Fearing a conservative Christian onslaught, the powerful teachers union has lobbied heavily in recent weeks for Trustees Dorothy Beaubien, a 64-year-old retired English teacher, and Dolores Didio, a 63-year-old homemaker and medical bookkeeper.

With six candidates competing for two school board seats, the governing board of the 18,574-student Conejo Valley Unified School District could easily remain moderate or tilt conservative.

While Conejo trustees often vote in lock-step, the current board reveals a schism between moderate conservatives--Richard Newman, Beaubien and Didio--and more fiscal and social conservatives--Elaine McKearn and Mildred Lynch.

In three recent, well-attended debates, the contenders staked out their visions for the board--addressing religion, vouchers, local control, teachers unions, sex education and standardized tests with a contentiousness uncommon in local, nonpartisan campaigns.

At Newbury Park’s Monte Vista Presbyterian Church, challengers Finman, Debra J. Lorier, Elroi Reimnitz and Chuck Rittenburg decried what they call a whisper campaign that tags them as stealth candidates from the religious right.

Beaubien and Didio have kept mum on that issue, but their backers have not.

A handbill distributed to members of the United Assn. of Conejo Teachers warns that electing the challengers could mean a Thousand Oaks repeat of the Vista, Calif., school board of 1992. A fundamentalist Christian majority gained control of that panel and imposed creationism, a ban on free breakfast programs for poor children and a form of sex education that used fundamentalist religion to teach abstinence, before the voters struck back.

Using soft words, Rittenburg scoffed at accusations that the challengers favor mandatory prayer, support book banning and intend to slash teachers’ salaries.

Reimnitz, 45, a Lutheran minister, has not been tagged as a religious right candidate to the extent of the other challengers, but he too spoke out.

“I believe very strongly in the separation of church and state,” he said. “This [race] is not about religion; it’s about education. I’m running as a parent, not as a minister.”

Bringing religion into the school board race is campaign “heresy,” according to Lorier, 42, a homemaker and businesswoman.

“It’s not about my faith, it’s only about education,” she said. “We can discuss the issues without calling each other names--right-wing extremists, radical conservatives . . . ladies and gentlemen, let’s discuss the issues at hand.”

Once the candidates set religion aside, those issues were vouchers, teachers unions and local control of schools.

The four challengers all support some form of school vouchers--in which public school students can take their tax dollars, in the form of a voucher, and apply them toward private or religious school tuition.

Only teachers unions and bureaucrats fear vouchers, which promote healthy competition among schools, Lorier said. “I am not threatened by choice.”

Citing the Conejo Valley’s enviably low 1% dropout rate and choice within the school system, Didio spoke out against vouchers. “I think they’re anti-education,” she said.

A former parochial student, Beaubien said she fully supports parents who want to send their children to religious or private schools--but not on the taxpayers’ dime.

Public money belongs to public education, the incumbents agreed.

On issues of curriculum, the challengers came down hard on Didio and Beaubien--sometimes chiding them as advocates of new math and whole language theories.

The Conejo Valley school district, in Finman’s view, is “almost anti-technology” and relies on “dummy down” math curriculum.

Reimnitz, Rittenburg and Lorier have all espoused a return to basics in education, either in the shape of phonics-based reading programs or the creation of fundamental and charter schools.

There is certainly room for improvement in all public education, countered the incumbents, but the school district never bought into feel-good curriculum.

When and how to disagree with the educational powers that be--Sacramento and Washington--was another sticking point among the contenders.

Rather than honing in on contentious aspects of a federal program such as the Goals 2000, which sets up voluntary academic standards for the nation’s schools, the incumbents suggested focusing on the positive, including the emphasis on school-to-career programs.

Saying the program is an example of the federal government meddling with local control, Lorier said she predicts a “defunding of Goals 2000.”

Rittenburg took that sentiment further. “Education should be left to the states,” he said. “I’d just as soon see the national Department of Education defunded as well.”

As far as federal and state grants are concerned, Rittenburg said he would seek and accept as much outside money as possible provided no strings were attached.

A frequent critic of teachers unions and the PTA, Lorier said teachers’ salaries should be pegged to merit, not a one-size-fits-all contract.

“We need to have a modification of teacher tenure,” she said, to allow principals “to eliminate poor-performance teachers.”

Didio and Beaubien have both been endorsed by the teachers union.

Shades of abstinence have colored the questions on sex and AIDS education.

The school district’s sex education policy--which stresses abstinence, but teaches about birth control--is favored by the incumbents.

A member of the committee that chose the policy, Rittenburg said he favors pragmatism in teaching sex education. While students need to be warned of disease and pregnancy, sex education should not include the mechanics of arousal, he said.

Having once removed one of her children from a sex-education seminar she found offensive, Lorier said sex education belongs in the home. She supports abstinence-based classes as well.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Conejo Valley Schools

Six candidates, including two incumbents, are vying for two seats in the Conejo Valley Unified School District board race, where the hot issues are finding space for students in an era or smaller classes and growing enrollment. Increasing the district’s responsiveness to parents is also a key concern.

Dorothy L. Beaubien

Age: 64

Occupation: School trustee, retired teacher

Education: Bachelor’s degree in English from Beloit College in Wisconsin and a master’s degree in school administration from University of La Verne

Background: An English teacher for 31 years, Beaubien taught for 26 years in Ventura County. She has lived in the Conejo Valley for 35 years and is active in the California School Boards Assn. and the area Chamber of Commerce.

Issues: A supporter of the popular state initiative to shrink class size for young students, Beaubien favors expanding facilities to fit the smaller classes. She also advocates expanding school technology while pushing a phonics reading program. School choice and zero-tolerance for drugs are among her priorities.

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Debra J. Lorier

Age: 42

Occupation: Homemaker, businesswoman

Education: Bachelor’s in business and economics from Westmont College

Background: For the last seven years, Lorier has been involved in a number of school groups, including the PFA and site councils. She has also been a classroom volunteer.

Issues: Lorier supports a phonics-based reading program and an abstinence-based sex education program. She also espouses the creation of more charter and fundamental schools and allowing parents more choice in where their children attend school. She does not support raising taxes to support such reforms.

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Dolores Didio

Age: 63

Occupation: School board trustee, homemaker, bookkeeper

Education: Bachelor’s of business education from UCLA, and graduate work at UCLA, USC and Cal Lutheran University

Background: During her 33 years in the Conejo Valley, Didio has participated in the Ventura County School Boards Assn., the California Assn. of Suburban School Districts and the PTAs at Westlake High and Meadows Elementary.

Issues: Finding the space to accommodate the Conejo Valley’s growth and the class size reduction movement are among Didio’s top concerns. She also backs programs that provide career opportunities for all students, such as school-to-work.

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Elroi Reimnitz

Age: 48

Occupation: Lutheran minister

Education: Diploma, Seminario Concordia in Brazil, master’s of divinity and doctorate of theology from the Concordia Seminary in St. Louis

Background: A Newbury Park resident for a decade, Reimnitz has been active in Casas Las Sendas Homeowners Assn., the Cypress Elementary site council and the American Youth Soccer Organization. He is pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Thousand Oaks.

Issues: Back-to-basics education and reducing class size top Reimnitz’s priorities. He also advocates more local control of schools in terms of curriculum and the distribution of scarce tax dollars. Reimnitz favors putting more district resources into the classroom and providing “fair teacher salaries.”

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Paul F. Finman

Age: 39

Occupation: Electrical engineer

Education: Bachelor’s degree in physics from MIT, master’s and doctorate in electrical engineering from Stanford

Background: Finman has been active in United We Stand and the Young Republicans over the last decade. He volunteered at a children’s fair for the Ventura County Discovery Center and has volunteered his computer expertise to various schools. Finman has been active in the Maple Elementary School PTA.

Issues: Hoping to counteract what he deems a bureaucratic approach to schooling, Finman advocates accommodating parents more by allowing them to select an individualized curriculum. To that end, he favors expanding the independent study program.

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Charles E. Rittenburg

Age: 45

Occupation: Engineer

Education: Bachelor’s degree in science from George Washington University and one year toward a master’s in criminal justice

Background: A Newbury Park resident for 11 years, Rittenburg’s four children have all attended Conejo Valley schools. He has been active in school site councils, band boosters and the PTA at Sequoia Intermediate School. A retired U.S. Army Reserve major, Rittenburg works for Northrup Grumman.

Issues: Emphasizing technology and giving students a strong grounding in the basics of reading and mathematics are top priorities to Rittenburg. He also believes the school board would be more accessible to parents if meetings were broadcast on the educational TV channel.