School board candidates to be spotlighted

As the La Cañada Unified School District Governing Board race heats up, voters will have the opportunity to meet with and pose questions to the six competing candidates at two upcoming candidates forums.

Incumbents Susan Boyd, Joel Peterson and Scott Tracy, and challengers Ernest Koeppen, Neal Millard and Dave Wilcox, are vying for three open board seats in the Nov. 3 election, the first school board election to take place within the district in four years.

The first candidates forum, which is being co-hosted by the La Cañada Flintridge Republican Club, The Republican Club of the Foothills and the Crescenta Valley Women’s Federation, will take place at 7:30 tonight (Oct. 1) at the La Cañada Flintridge Community Center. The three challengers, Ernest Koeppen, Neal Millard and Dave Wilcox, have confirmed that they will participate.

Al Restivo, chairman of the La Cañada Flintridge Republican Club, said each candidate will be given the opportunity to make an opening statement, and then will respond to specific questions poised by audience members.

“I would encourage La Cañadans to participate, to come and actually hear the candidates and ask them questions,” Restivo said. “It is their kids and their tax dollars.”

The second forum, which will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. at the La Cañada High School auditorium, is being sponsored by the La Cañada PTA Council and moderated by the League of Women Voters. All six candidates have confirmed that they will be in attendance.

Celina Lew, a La Cañada resident, LCUSD parent and program director for the League of Women Voters, said the format will be similar to that of the Oct. 1 forum. Attendees will submit questions on index cards as they arrive. Candidates will be asked to make a two-minute opening statement, and then will respond the questions as they are read by a moderator.

Susan Dodge, president of the PTA Council, said that she thinks the biggest topic of discussion at the forum will be the recent cuts to state education funding and strategic financial management within the LCUSD.

“The district, in the next five years, is going to suffer a $3 million cutback from the state because the state is broke,” Dodge said. “The [La Cañada Flintridge Education Foundation] and the PTA raise a lot of money, but we can’t begin to put a dent in the cuts.”

A strong pool of candidates and a heightened concern about the district’s financial health has lent momentum to the governing board race in recent weeks. In mid-July, however, it was unclear whether there would be an election at all. Millard announced his candidacy on July 9, but rescinded it after board member Jeanne Broberg told his campaign manager that an election would cost the cash-strapped district $75,000. The incident spurred Koeppen and Wilcox to join the race, and Millard then reinstated his candidacy.

In 2007, Broberg and fellow board member Cindy Wilcox (no relation to Dave Wilcox) were the only two candidates vying for two seats. As a result, the election was canceled and the women were seated on the board by default.