ELECTIONS SCHOOL BOARD PLEASANT VALLEY : 5 Candidates Challenge 2 Incumbents

Five candidates for the Pleasant Valley Elementary School board, contending that low salaries and low morale are forcing good teachers to leave the Camarillo district, are trying to oust two incumbents in the Nov. 6 election.

In the 6,200-student district, relations have grown increasingly hostile between the board and the teachers’ union--the Pleasant Valley Education Assn., which has picketed every board meeting since the school year began to protest salaries and medical benefits.

The five challengers have raised questions about crowded classrooms at Las Colinas Elementary School and about busing to relieve the problem. They also have criticized the board for failing to build new schools to accommodate growth in eastern Camarillo.

The two incumbents, however, have defended their records and stressed their board experience and the district’s academic achievements.

The field has narrowed since nine candidates filed in August. Incumbent Robert W. Formhals, who had served on the board since 1981, died earlier this month. And challenger Paul B. Vernon has withdrawn from the race, although his name will remain on the ballot. The remaining seven candidates are running for three seats.

To ease overcrowding, the district, which had been busing elementary students from Los Colinas to other schools, switched this year to busing older seventh- and eighth-grade Las Colinas students to Monte Vista Intermediate School. The switch also helped bolster Monte Vista’s sagging enrollment.

Some parents, however, objected to busing for any reason and said the district failed to plan for growth. They formed Concerned Parents for Neighborhood Schools and fielded their own candidate, Jeanette L. (Jan) McDonald.

“I believe all students are entitled to neighborhood schools,” McDonald said. “Busing students from the east to the other side is not solving the problem.”

McDonald, whose two sons attend district schools, said she favors building a temporary school of portable buildings. McDonald said she would push for an “instant school” if a bond measure under consideration for the June, 1991, ballot fails.

Incumbent Barbara Miller, 42, who is seeking her second term, said finding money has been difficult because growth in the district is increasing, but state officials do not qualify Pleasant Valley as a high-growth area so it does not receive priority for financing.

“It’s not that the entire district is jampacked,” said Miller, adding that not all schools have been crowded. Since she has been a board member, Miller said, the district has strengthened the instrumental music program districtwide and decreased the number of students while increasing the ethnic diversity at El Rancho Elementary, where a language program was started.

Dolores (Val) Rains, a college professor, is seeking her fourth term. “We have tried to keep ahead of growth,” said Rains, citing a master plan solicited by the district that addresses school needs for the next 20 years.

Teachers have complained that, despite the relative affluence of Camarillo, salaries are among the lowest in the county.

But both incumbents said salaries are low because Pleasant Valley has the lowest revenue of any school district in the county. Neighboring districts with large numbers of government or military employees, for instance, receive federal impact aid that significantly boosts revenue, and other districts receive financing for special programs, including bilingual programs and programs for poor students that Pleasant Valley does not have.

“I feel with the amount of funding we have, we have provided an outstanding program on a bare-bones budget,” Rains said. “We watch every dollar we spend and stretch it till it almost breaks.”

Incumbents and challengers agree that new schools are badly needed in the Mission Oaks and Santa Rosa areas.

But busing students until money for new schools is found “is a quick-fix solution,” said challenger Leonard (Len) Caligiuri, 38, a real estate appraiser.

Caligiuri said he supports a bond issue, now under consideration by the district, as a way to provide money for new school construction, and that the district could also consider a year-round calendar to relieve overcrowded classrooms.

Warren Baker, 69, a managing partner in an accounting firm, said he would bring 35 years of experience as a school auditor and accountant to the board to help improve district finances. Baker said using a school of portable buildings is a better short-term solution to crowding than busing.

Financial manager James Gamboni, 44, also stressed the budgeting expertise he could bring to the board. Gamboni said the district’s past projections for both revenue and expenses have been off.

“I’m not faulting the board,” Gamboni said. “I just think that what I have is what they can use.”

Challenger Alan Murray, 40, a hospital administrator, said he was concerned because the district could be losing veteran teachers to higher paying districts. He proposed seeking financial help from alternative sources, including businesses, the city and the county, to help build new schools to share facilities such as gymnasiums.

“That way the district isn’t bearing the whole financial responsibility,” Murray said. “I’d like the board to look into that.” He also proposed studying district-run day-care facilities.

Some challengers said 50 or more teachers left the district during the summer. Both incumbents said 47 positions opened, but they included four new positions, retirements and leaves of absence. Many teachers who left went for reasons other than higher pay elsewhere, they said.

The teachers’ union has endorsed three challengers, Caligiuri, McDonald and Murray.

A candidates’ forum, sponsored by the United Methodist Church Nursery School, will be held at 9:15 a.m. today at the church’s social hall, 291 Anacapa Drive, Camarillo.