Apodaca: 3 candidates claim they are ‘A Better Choice’

A team of first-time candidates has emerged to run for three of the seven seats on the Newport-Mesa Unified School District Board of Education that are up for general election this November.

Coordinating their campaigns under the banner, “A Better Choice,” the three challengers — Michael Schwarzmann, Amy Peters and Leslie Bubb — recently held a kick-off event intended to introduce themselves to the community and begin the grinding process of raising the tens of thousands of dollars that will be necessary for each candidate to run their campaigns. I showed up to observe and hear what they had to say.

All three of the new candidates have children in Newport-Mesa schools, and all have served in various voluntary roles that have informed their views about district policies and procedures. In comments to their potential supporters, they all professed to be motivated by their dissatisfaction with the current board and presented themselves as change agents ready to shake up the status quo.

“I’m running because of frustration,” said Schwarzmann, a lawyer and financial advisor. “Decisions are being made in a room in secret.”

“I would like to see a board that really listens to our teachers and principals, because they are the boots on the ground,” said Bubb, who has a background in education.

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The candidates — who are running for the seats currently occupied by Martha Fluor, Vicki Snell and board President Dana Black — also expressed support for term limits.

Peters noted that some board members have been on the board for more than two decades.

“In so many ways the district is out of touch,” she said.

The candidates were warmly greeted by the dozens of attendees — most presumably parents of school-aged children — during the event at a private Newport Beach home.

Nonetheless, the “Better Choice” trio have their work cut out. Challengers always face an uphill battle. The candidate filing deadline isn’t until mid-August, but if the incumbents that are nearing the end of their terms choose to run again they’ll likely be tough to beat.

So the big question for this election will be: Is the dissatisfaction with the current board widespread enough to lead to some upsets this November?

Certainly, the district has has faced a number of controversies in the past few years that some parents and others in the community believe reflect badly on the current board’s leadership and lend credence to the argument that it’s time for some fresh new faces.

Among those controversies is the legal battle ensuing against the district and Supt. Fred Navarro by John Caldecott, the former Newport-Mesa human resources director. Caldecott, in court filings, has accused the administration of improper salary reporting and a hostile work environment. He has also been vocal regarding his disappointment with what he sees as a board that is far too willing to abrogate its oversight role and unquestioningly comply with decisions by top administrators.

Two other former employees, Ann Huntington, who was an assistant superintendent, and Laura Boss, the onetime communications director, have also filed a lawsuit against the district, taking issue with Navarro’s management style.

In their lawsuit, Huntington and Boss claim that a formal complaint that they and Caldecott made in October 2014, describing a toxic work environment, “was not investigated and was summarily denied” by the board. They also accused the board of a “silence-the-messenger” approach.

Also recently, another dispute has surfaced involving some teachers at Mariners Elementary, who claimed that the school’s administration made inaccurate or exaggerated statements about school programs and capabilities in a Gold Ribbon Award application to the California Department of Education.

One of the teachers who addressed the board at a recent meeting said that the staff members who complained about the alleged discrepancies were told to remain silent.

The Newport-Mesa Federation of Teachers filed a formal complaint over the Mariners matter. A district official reportedly told the Daily Pilot that a private investigations firm has been retained to examine the claims made in the complaint, and that the district will respond to the allegations after the investigation is complete.

Even so, some critics see the whole affair as indicative of a district culture more attuned to handing out awards than making meaningful progress toward improving educational outcomes.

I heard enough rumblings about the Mariners situation and other school issues at the new-candidate launch to realize that at least some voters will be sympathetic to the idea that a change at the board of education would be a healthy development for the district.

Words like “accountability” and “transparency” were used frequently by the candidates and their supporters, and I have no doubt they’ll be repeated again and again between now and November.

While it’s far too early to say whether the “Better Choice” team’s attempt to shake things up on Bear Street will prove successful, the energy behind their joint campaign will be hard to dismiss. It looks as if we’re headed into an interesting and lively election season that will give voters plenty to think about before heading to the polls.

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PATRICE APODACA is a former Newport-Mesa public school parent and former Los Angeles Times staff writer. She lives in Newport Beach.