HUNTINGTON BEACH : 4 to Take On School Board Incumbents

Three Huntington Beach City School District board members running for reelection this November will face four challengers who are calling for change in the strife-torn district.

Board President Sherry Barlow and trustees Patricia Cohen and Robert Mann will be defending their records after a school year marked by a lengthy, bitter round of teacher contract negotiations and the controversial departure of Supt. Diana Peters.

The three incumbents filed before Friday’s deadline, along with health consultant Shirley Carey, attorney Michael Cassidy, Edison High School Principal Brian Garland and oil company executive Brian Rechsteiner.

The four challengers offer a diverse range of educational philosophies, but all stress the need for improved communication among administrators, teachers and board members. All are political neophytes except Garland, a two-time board member of the district.

Carey, 50, a former nurse who now teaches community health at Humana Hospital in Huntington Beach, has two children in the district and describes herself as a “board watcher” in recent years. She says she does not fault either the teachers union or the administration for the friction that arose during recent negotiations, but assails their overall relationship as “completely dysfunctional.” She declined to comment on Peters’ resignation.

Cassidy, 36, was a Maywood police officer before becoming a criminal defense lawyer four years ago. He has two children in the district and is a former Parents and Teachers Assn. president at Eader School. He holds the board responsible for what he sees as the district’s major problems, but defends both the teachers union and Peters.

“I think she did a heckuva job,” he said of Peters, who resigned last month after a rift developed between her and the board. “She was involved, open and introduced a lot of good programs. I don’t know why (trustees) did what they did.”

Garland, 50, has 28 years of experience in education, including jobs as a teacher, assistant principal and principal. He served on the district’s board from 1975 to 1980, and from 1982 to 1986, ending both terms by declining to seek reelection. He said he prefers not to discuss Peters’ departure, but emphasizes the need to empower teachers and other school personnel. “My basic philosophy is the kids come first, then you take care of those who take care of the kids,” he said.

Rechsteiner, 45, is a territorial manager for Mobil Oil Co. He has two children in the district and says he has been actively involved in the PTA at various schools. He declines to either fault or credit any side for troubles in the district but stresses that “harmony needs to be brought back to the district.” Rechsteiner said he believes school programs and test scores speak well of Peters’ four-year administration but that the teachers union’s two votes of no-confidence against the superintendent reflect badly on her.

The Huntington Beach Elementary Teachers Assn., which during contract negotiations denounced the current board, plans to wage a campaign to oust two trustees, Barlow and Cohen.

The union has yet to officially announce which candidates it will endorse, but President Sharon Boudreau said Monday the group will be backing Mann, Carey and Garland.