SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : School Board Member Resigns

Brian R. Demsey, a nine-year member of the Capistrano Unified School District Board of Trustees, has announced that he will resign in May because he no longer has children attending schools in the district.

Demsey, 48, a San Juan Capistrano insurance consultant who was reelected to a second term in November, 1988, said in his resignation letter to the district that he has contemplated quitting since his youngest daughter graduated from San Clemente High School last year. His resignation takes effect May 6.

“I have long felt that members of the school board should have children in our schools,” Demsey wrote in his resignation letter. Demsey said in his letter that he received the most gratification “when our district has reached out to find new and improved ways to stimulate the educational experiences of the students and our staff.”

“The most frustrating times have been when the board and district have been the objects of carefully orchestrated campaigns to push limited views into the core of the education process,” Demsey also wrote.

Three of the remaining six board members--Annette B. Gude, E.G. (Ted) Kopp and A. Edward Westberg--no longer have children attending district schools.

Gude, whose daughter graduated from district schools, said she disagrees with Demsey’s assertion that trustees whose children no longer attend district schools should resign.

According to the Orange County Department of Education, the remaining trustees have three choices to fill the last 20 months of Demsey’s term--appoint a replacement within 60 days, call a special election within that time, or do nothing, which would lead to the county’s calling a special election.

If the board decides to appoint a replacement, that decision would be overridden if about 1,500 district voters sign petitions demanding a special election.

The district, which has about 27,000 students and 100,000 registered voters, includes San Juan Capistrano, San Clemente, Dana Point, Laguna Niguel and part of Mission Viejo.