School Board Leader Who Quit Race Still Wins

Bonita Unified School Board President Robert Olander II did not want to get reelected Tuesday, but voters in San Dimas and La Verne returned him to office anyway.

Olander announced his withdrawal from the school board race last month, accusing fellow board members and School Supt. John Rieckewald of conducting business under a veil of secrecy that he could no longer condone. At the time, however, it was too late to remove Olander’s name from the ballot.

Voters must have liked Olander’s tough talk, because he easily won election, along with first-time candidate Bruce E. Colburn. Olander, in deference to his supporters at the ballot box, said Wednesday that he may reconsider and stay on the board.

“I didn’t think I would be making this decision,” said Olander. “I’m reevaluating my options,” he added, saying he would make an announcement within days.

When Olander left the race, he said it was difficult to ask voters to reelect him when they often had no way of knowing what the board was doing because so much business was conducted behind closed doors.

“I was tremendously honored that nearly 1,800 voters believed in what Bob Olander stands for and care about the public’s right to know and the open meetings law,” he said. “ . . . The people of San Dimas and La Verne want more openness and communications.”

Olander did not campaign, attend a candidate forum or seek endorsements.

“People believed what he was saying,” said Barbara Ward, who was honored by a state First Amendment group after she quit her job as the district’s public information officer earlier this year after board members criticized her for releasing information about the district.

Olander said the problems began last year when the board placed the district’s superintendent--who was eventually fired--on leave without a public explanation. Several board members argued that laws protecting the privacy of employees prevented them from commenting.

In April, Olander called for an internal contracts audit to be made public and then waved a copy of it in the air during a board meeting. Some board members tried to grab it from him and later asked him to resign, he said.

When local newspapers reported that the former superintendent, Ron Raya, continued to be paid after he was fired, an assistant superintendent filed a state discrimination complaint--a precursor to a suit against Olander accusing the board member of making disparaging statements about him in the press.

Olander said he finally decided to withdraw from the race after the district planned a workshop on the state open meeting law that would cost board members and the public $40 to attend--a violation, he said, of the very law to be discussed.