Campaign full of school veterans

She took her seat on the school board in 1980, with Jimmy Carter in the White House and American hostages in Iran. Over the next 26 years, four other presidents took office, Orange County went bankrupt and pulled itself together, and every non-adult student currently enrolled in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District was born.

Judy Franco is running again for the Newport-Mesa board of trustees. If she serves another four years, she will be the longest-lasting trustee in the history of the district. The record-holder, Roderick McMillian, served 29 years from 1965 to 1994 — and the Newport-Mesa boardroom is named after him.

It’s no surprise, then, that experience is one of the key issues in the race for the fifth trustee area. Franco, in her campaign, has promoted herself as a seasoned veteran of the board who helped pass two bond measures, oversaw two strategic plans and has valuable connections in Sacramento. Meanwhile, opponents Sandy Asper and Loretta Zimmerman have trumpeted their work on the Newport-Mesa front lines — Asper as a teacher for 38 years, Zimmerman as a parent of five.

“This year is a turning point,” Zimmerman, 54, said. “I’ve been in the district for years, and this is the most important election I’ve seen.”

The race for the fifth trustee area is the most crowded in the school district this fall. Longtime educator Jack Price’s name also appears on the ballot, although he recently called off his campaign and threw his support to Asper. With the competition down to three, voters have three veterans to choose from: the teacher, the parent and the politician.

Franco, who oversees Balboa Peninsula, Lido Island and part of Corona del Mar for the board, has presented herself to voters as a savvy insider. During her tenure on the board, she has traveled to Sacramento to push for legislation and served as president of the Orange County School Boards Assn. She is a delegate on the California School Boards Assn.

In her campaign materials, Franco has argued that experience is essential over the next year, with a new superintendent in Newport-Mesa and the federal No Child Left Behind Act primed for reauthorization.

“I’ve learned that so much of what we do, in any district in California, is not determined locally, but on a state and federal level, and yet I have learned that communication is key to a far better understanding of issues on all levels,” she said.

Her opponents, however, have run on reform platforms, presenting themselves as better in tune with Newport-Mesa’s needs.

Asper, 69, who retired last year, taught at five Newport-Mesa schools around the district and served on the teachers union’s benefits committee. As a candidate, she advocates tightening school safety plans, mandating CPR training for teachers and preparing students for vocational careers as well as college.

“We need to train kids,” Asper said. “They need to have hope for the future in terms of what we are able to give them as a district. Obviously, we will continue to need service jobs.”

Less well-known than her opponents, Zimmerman has run as an advocate for families. In the early 1990s, she served as president of Irvine Community Nursery School and earlier this year joined the committee to select Newport-Mesa’s new superintendent. She is also — with the exception of Michael Collier — the only school board candidate this fall with a child enrolled in the district.

Like Asper, Zimmerman favors vocational training, and also wants Newport-Mesa to take a closer look at its struggling schools on the Westside. One possible solution, she said, is creating a committee to assess how other districts have prevented schools from falling behind.

“We need a school board that has parents on it who understand the issues students are facing today,” Zimmerman said.