New face on school board

Mary A. Castillo

Laguna voters elected Bob Whalen, Kathryn Turner and Betsy Jenkins

to serve on the Laguna Beach Unified School District Board of

Education.

Whalen received 28.6% of the votes, Turner 28.4%, Jenkins 26% and

Wilson 17% of the total 18,600 vote counts.

“I’m very happy,” Jenkins said in a phone interview Wednesday.

“I’m having a good time this morning.”

This will be her first term.

After eight years of service on the school board, Turner is more

than ready to hone in on the tasks that will enable teachers to

provide the best educational experience to each student.

“I appreciate the confidence the voters have shown,” she said. “It

is an affirmation of what has gone on and I’m looking forward to the

next four years.”

Whalen is ready to get back to work for his second term on the

board.

“I think we’ll work well as a board and we have a tremendous

opportunity of moving the district ahead on its entire educational

program,” he said.

At press time, Wilson had left town for a moral education

conference in Chicago and was not available for comment. However

campaign manager David Kidd conveyed Wilson’s feelings about the

election.

“We think we did really well,” he said. “He sends his best wishes

to the board and he knows they’ll do a great job.”

The school board members are tentatively scheduled to be sworn-in

on Dec. 10.

Jenkins confided that when she spoke with Supt. Theresa Daem on

the phone, she received a mountain of materials to review before her

first official meeting.

“I’ve got my work cut out for me,” she said.