School Board Presidency Is No Lock for Next in Line

Bad blood from a bitter election campaign has provoked a rare battle for the presidency of the Conejo Valley school board, which is usually rotated among trustees from year to year.

By tradition, it will be trustee Mildred Lynch’s turn to wield the gavel when the board elects its ceremonial leader Dec. 12. But an ideological board split and a contentious election may turn board tradition topsy-turvy.

“I want to be president, and--by practice, if not board policy--it’s my turn,” said the Lynch, a fiscal conservative and back-to-basics advocate. “This would be my last term as president because I’m not running again, and I only have two years left.

“But the situation is touchy, touchy,” she added.

Touchy to say the least.

A former English teacher who has twice led the school board, Lynch prides herself on being fiercely independent on and off the board.

While most decisions on the seemingly placid board are unanimous, Lynch often casts minority votes with conservative trustee Elaine McKearn. Members Dick Newman, Dorothy Beaubien and Dolores Didio form a more moderate majority.

When incumbents Didio and Beaubien were up for reelection in November, Lynch made her first endorsement in 11 years as a trustee--for conservative challenger Charles E. Rittenburg.

And now?

“The word is that it’s payback time for Mildred’s support of Rittenburg instead of the incumbents,” said Debra J. Lorier, a conservative who lost her bid to become a trustee.

Saying they have not decided who to support for president, Beaubien and Didio dismiss that notion.

“I don’t think it has anything to do with payback or vengeance time,” Didio said. “I think it has to do with who people believe the president of the board represents. And I’m not saying [Lynch] won’t be president. But the president should be an advocate for public education and not an advocate for vouchers, for example.”

Rittenburg, with Lynch’s backing, said he supported a voucher system in which parents could use their public school dollars toward private or religious school tuition.

Lynch’s gruff manner and avowed skepticism have earned her both friends and foes. Dozens of those friends will rally to her defense at the upcoming meeting, Lorier predicted.

Complicating matters is that there is no set order for the presidency, said Jerry Gross, superintendent of the Conejo Valley Unified School District.

Generally speaking, the post is handed off annually, with the newest member taking the last spin as president.

Under that formula, Lynch has dibs. Trustee Newmanis now president; Didio and Beaubien served before him. McKearn is the greenhorn, elected two years ago.

But the board can elect anyone to the post--which essentially entails pounding the gavel, running the meeting and representing the district at community functions.

“It’s not a powerful office,” Gross said. “I think it’s more prestige than power.”

The last time the post drew such a debate was almost a decade ago, when none of the board’s five members wanted the job.

Neophyte Ellyn H. Wilkins drew the short straw and became president, Didio recalled.