Incumbents lead in area school board races
As the candidates for school board seats in several area elections approached the finish line Tuesday night, some races were close, while others showed clear frontrunners.
Newport-Mesa Unified School District
In the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, incumbents Dana Black, Martha Fluor and Vicki Snell took the lead in early returns. Three seats on the seven-member board were up for election.
In the race for Trustee Area 1, Snell had a sizable lead against Michael Schwarzmann, a Costa Mesa resident and advisor to companies in financial distress.
Snell could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.
In Area 3, Fluor took a slim lead over Newport Beach businesswoman Amy Peters, while board President Dana Black and Leslie Bubb, a Newport Beach resident and teacher trainer, were nearly neck-and-neck in Area 6.
“I’m encouraged,” Fluor said. “To be very honest, we always encourage opponents, but in this campaign ... it’s been a difficult race, and I was optimistic because I think I ran a good campaign. But I was still was a little nervous.”
Challengers in the race questioned an array of board decisions, such as the continued use of the Swun Math curriculum for elementary school students and salary raises for district administrators.
As parents of Newport-Mesa students, the challengers often said they have a pulse on what’s occurring in the classrooms, including the struggles teachers and students face with typos in Swun Math materials.
A little more than half of the district’s 11,400 students in grades 3-8 and 11 who took the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress in the past school year didn’t pass the math standards.
Incumbents have defended their efforts to remedy the issues with the math curriculum, which include staff development to help instructors teach it.
“I’m really proud of what we’ve done in the district, and I have things I’d like to do in the future,” Black said. “I think with the community, we need to reach out more, especially regarding the new state curriculum.”
The incumbents also have stuck by their salary approvals for administrators like Supt. Fred Navarro, saying they want to attract employees with competitive salaries in accord with the high cost of living in Newport Beach and Costa Mesa.
Laguna Beach Unified School District
In early returns Tuesday night in the three-person race for two seats on the Laguna Beach Unified School District board, Peggy Wolff and incumbent Jan Vickers were nearly tied, followed by Howard Hills.
Vickers, who has served consecutive board terms since 2000, was writing an email to her sister when reached for comment about the initial results.
“I had not looked yet; I usually wait a little longer,” said Vickers, a former adult-education teacher and foster parent. “That’s good news for me.”
Wolff, past president of the Thurston Middle and Top of the World Elementary school PTAs and a former elementary school teacher, also was at home, keeping tabs on the presidential election.
“I’m thrilled to see the results come through for the first time,” Wolff said of the Laguna race. “I worked really hard on my campaign, focusing on who I was.”
All three candidates have or had children attending Laguna Beach Unified schools, and Wolff and Hills, a constitutional lawyer specializing in civil rights and international law, graduated from Laguna Beach High School.
The top two vote-getters will join Dee Perry, Carol Normandin and Ketta Brown on the five-member board.
Current Board President William Landsiedel did not seek reelection this year.
Last month, candidates answered questions from residents during the only public forum of the election season.
School board candidates mulled the issue of hiring outside consultants while also discussing their thoughts on whether the district should consider starting school earlier than the current post-Labor Day date.
Ocean View School District
In the Huntington Beach-based Ocean View School District race, current board President Gina Clayton-Tarvin took the lead in early returns.
Two seats were available on the five-member board, with Clayton-Tarvin up for reelection while trustee Debbie Cotton did not seek another term.
Behind Clayton-Tarvin on Tuesday night was retired businessman and former Ocean View board member Norm Westwell, who was ahead of Realtor Patricia Singer, asset manager Kathryn Gonzalez and social worker Amalia Lam.
“I’m pleased,” Clayton-Tarvin said. “I’m happy that the voters of the Ocean View School District have seen fit to reelect me. I’m glad they have confidence in my ability, and I’m going to work really hard for the next four years to stabilize the school district for students.”
After facing three elementary school closures in 2014 due to asbestos discovered in classrooms, Ocean View opened the last shut-down campus in September this year.
While construction crews were removing the asbestos from Lake View, Hope View and Oak View elementary schools, more than 1,600 students were bused to other schools in the district or even campuses as far away Buena Park.
The cost for the work to reopen the three schools totaled over $15 million.
Other races
• Huntington Beach City School District: Current board member Bridget Kaub and retired principal Ann Sullivan showed a lead in early returns as of Tuesday night. Teacher Karrie Burroughs is also in the running.
• Huntington Beach Union High School District: Current board members Michael Simons and Susan Henry showed a lead in early returns as of Tuesday night.
With two seats on the board available, Simons and Henry were challenged by criminal justice professor Saul Lankster II, engineer Trung Ta and store supervisor Colin Melott.
• Coast Community College District: Board incumbents Jerry Patterson, Lorraine Prinsky and Mary Hornbuckle showed a sizable lead in early returns.
Patterson, running for Area 2, was up against Garden Grove resident and teacher Vong Nguyen.
Prinksy was ahead of opponents and Huntington Beach residents Victor Valladares and Rob Fishel. All three were vying for a seat in Area 3.
Hornbuckle, running for Area 4, showed a lead against chiropractor and educator Jonathan Bao Huynh.
• Fountain Valley School District: Current board members Ian Collins and Jeanne Galindo led in early returns. Engineer Jennifer Weimer also was in the running.
• Westminster School District: Current board President Jamison Power and Westminster businesswoman Frances Nguyen showed a lead in early returns over attorney Karl Truong.
Twitter: @AlexandraChan10
Twitter: @AldertonBryce
