School board terms discussed at forum

Term limits, vocational education and helping low-achieving students were among the topics discussed at a Newport-Mesa school board candidates forum Thursday at the Costa Mesa Neighborhood Community Center.

The two-hour forum, hosted by the League of Women Voters and the Harbor Council Parent Teachers Assn., drew about 100 people.

The questions posed to the seven candidates were written by members of the audience.

Among the Nov. 7 election candidates are longtime board members Judy Franco and Serene Stokes, who respectively are facing challengers Sandy Asper and Karen Yelsey. Both Yelsey and Asper have been endorsed by the Newport-Mesa Federation of Teachers, which is also supporting Michael Collier, a former Estancia High School music teacher who is vying for a seat board member Linda Sneen is leaving open this year. Family therapist Kimberly Clark is also running for Sneen’s seat. Longtime PTA member and Corona del Mar High School parent Loretta Zimmerman is the third candidate running for Franco’s seat.

Jack Price, a former teacher, dropped out of the race last month citing a lack of time and interest to run his campaign.

On Thursday night, when candidates were asked their opinion of term limits, all were in favor except the incumbents.

Franco, who has been on the board since 1980 said “term limits can be a problem” for her. However, she said the residents in the district are well educated and know of her work on the board.

“My motto is that we need a new voice,” said Yelsey, a former Corona del Mar High School PTA president. “I think we need new ideas.”

Stokes, a trustee since 1994, said she still has new ideas.

“If they [voters] think you’re not doing a good job, then they should vote you out,” Stokes said.

But the school board needs new faces with new ideas, Zimmerman said.

Term limits “are a way to bring new ideas for old problems,” Zimmerman said.

The candidates also disagreed about the need for vocational training.

Stokes said the district’s goal should be to prepare and encourage students to attend college.

“Our ROP classes are wonderful, but to say that we should place students in vocational education only is a disservice to the community,” Stokes said.

Both Asper and Clark said they were in favor of vocational education.

“We need a vocational program to meet the needs of all the students,” Clark said.

The candidates suggested ways to help low-achieving students in the district, including homework clubs, tests that can identify a student’s problem, and forming a parent-teacher partnership to help the students.

Educating the parents on how to help the student is also important, Yelsey said. Franco and Asper agreed that schools must work with parents.

“Parents are key, and we need to include them in the equation,” Asper said.

After 38 years of teaching in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, Asper said she knows some the problems low-achieving students have arise at home.

“We need more counseling for children to find out about their family life,” she said.

The candidates also stressed the need to prepare students for college, with Collier stressing that students should be exposed to the idea of college at the middle school level.

Redrawing the district’s boundaries was another question asked at the forum. All candidates said the board needs to study the complex issue.

The topic of attracting and retaining teachers was also raised.

“We need to recognize outstanding teachers,” Franco said.

Collier agreed, adding that they also need to be paid well.

“We need to make this a destination place for teachers,” Collier said. “We need to recognize them and support them to be good teachers.”