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www.loscerritosnews.netBy Randy Economy
Los Cerritos Community News
Staff Reporter
In a rare marathon Saturday meeting, the ABC Unified School Board of Education could not reach agreement on who should replace recently elected Cerritos City Council Member Mark E. Puldio.
An election will be held this November in conjunction with the regularly slated ABC School Board election to fill the remainder of the term that expires in 2013.
The meeting began at 7:30 a.m. and lasted well into the afternoon, and 13 local residents pitched and pleaded their qualifications in 10-minute intervals.
In the end, no applicant received a majority of votes from the six members ABC School Board, and it resulted in a stalemate. Emotions flared by the normally harmonious school board, and by the time all the dust had settled, many walked away frustrated, angry and disappointed in the entire process.
Very early in the meeting, it was apparent that it was going to be difficult for the school board to come up with an agreement on who should get the appointment.
The dozen-plus-one applicants included Ardash Sunak, Mansour Meisami, Louise Dodson, Anna Titus, Ernie Nishi, Cindy Yen Chen, David Montgomery, Ethan Robinson, Jean McHatton, Olga Rios, Kiran Rami, Lynda Johnson and Helen Lee.
All of them were well versed on school board issues such as the state budget crisis, the importance of having an “open mind” as a school board member, and how they would guide the district during these “challenging” economic times.
None of the 13 applicants were directly asked if they were willing to take the appointment and pledge not to run in the upcoming November election. But all off the hopefuls stressed their desire to serve “openly” and “honestly” on behalf of the “voters, taxpayers and for the best interest of the students.”
During public testimony, Laura Rico, President of the ABC Federation of Teachers urged the school board to “pick the person who can hit the ground running” and who “has the experience and knowledge” of how the school board operates.” Several speakers also praised the candidacy of Lynda Johnson, and one former ABC School Board Member Bob Hughlett lobbied the board to select longtime Cerritos resident and his longtime personal friend Jean McHatton.
The entire afternoon was plagued with motions and maneuvers and rule changes to benefit one hopeful over another.
Clerk Olympia Chen tried unsuccessfully to keep the seat vacant till the upcoming November election and only colleague Sophia Tse agreed supported her. Board Members Maynard Law, James Kang, Celia Spitzer and Armin Reyes voted to continue the appointment process.
Chen and Tse attempted to make the case that the winning “appointee” would only serve 10 meetings and they would have an “unfair” advantage to run for the seat as a designated “appointed Incumbent.”
Veteran School Board Member Celia Spitzer reminded the board that “we were elected to make hard decisions. It is incumbent on us (the Board of Education) to make an appointment, today. It is very unfair to the 13 candidates for us not reach a decision.” Board Vice President Armin Reyes stressed that the “quality and quantity” of the candidates were “incredible.” “This is about public service,” he remarked. “Many of them are my personal friends, and this makes the decision all the harder,” said Reyes.
According to the official published meeting agenda, the board was to pick the “top three” candidates, and then the board would conduct an open discussion or the final candidates, and followed by the “motion/s to appoint; vote, and then the “Provisional Appointee” would be sworn into office by Superintendent Gary Smuts.
Each board member ranked their top three choices as previously agreed upon.
Here is how the applicants were ranked by each board member:
Board Clerk Olympia Chen selected Montgomery, Dodson and Yen Chen. Board Member James Kang selected Nishi, Yen Chen and Robinson. Board President Law ranked McHatton, Dodson, and Montgomery. Vice President Reyes selected Dodson, Titus, and Johnson. Board Member Spitzer gave her picks to Dodson, Montgomery and Mc Hatton, while Member Tse selected Yen Chen, Nishi and Titus,
After that first round of rankings the three top ranked applicants were suppose to be the only ones going into the final round of voting.
These three finalists were Dodson (four points) Montgomery and Cindy Yen Chen who both earned three points.
Then personal politics dominated the rest of the selection process. After a heated exchange lead by Board President Law, he urged that the rules be changed to allow any candidate who received “two points” to go into the final round for consideration. Law was a vocal supporter of applicant Jean McHatton, who received just two points, one from Law and the other from Kang. Applicant Ernie Nishi also received two points in the balloting as did Anna Titus.
“We need to recognize that we have some great qualified candidates who got two points in the ranking and we should allow them to go on to the next round,” Law said. “It is a hard choice because of our longtime personal relationships with some of these individuals,” he said. Kang seconded Laws motion and it passed on a 4-2 vote with Tse and Chen opposing the rule change.
Joining Dodson, Montgomery and Yen Chen into the new round of voting was Nishi and Mc Hatton.
Then after yet another heated exchange, the board changed the rules for the fourth time to allow any applicant who received “one point” to go into the final round of consideration. That motion passed 4-2, and applicants Lynda Johnson and Ethan Robinson were added into the jumbled mix of “finalists.”
The only applicants not considered in the final round of voting were Rami, Mansami, Sunak, Rios and Lee. None of them received any points or verbal support from any of the six school board members.
Then nearly seven hours after the marathon meeting began, a vote was taken on the new eight finalists.
Here is how that next vote panned out:
Olympia Chen voted for David Montgomery, James Kang voted for Cindy Yen Chen, Maynard Law voted for Jean McHatton, and both Armin Reyes and Celia Spitzer voted for Dodson and Sophia Tse voted for Nishi.
Titus, Johnson, Robinson and Nishi were then declared out of consideration after that vote.
During the next set of “rule changes” the Board decided to take an “up or down” vote on each of the remaining five finalist. It was agreed to that the “winning applicant” would have to earn four of the six board members approval to be granted to seven month appointment.
Spitzer moved to nominate Dodson and Reyes seconded the motion. Dodson only received two votes and she was eliminated.
Montgomery was the next to be considered and he received the support of Spitzer, Reyes, and Chen. He was eliminated at this point.
Cindy Yen Chen won the votes of only Kang and Tse and McHatton was knocked out of consideration after just getting the votes of Law and Kang.
Then, after another rule change, Montgomery, Yen Chen and Dodson were on the final ballot, but Clerk Olympia Chen stepped in and demanded that the appointment be made by the voters, and not the ABC School Board. That motion passed 4 to 2 with Reyes and Spitzer voting in the minority.’
“As far as I am concerned, I am willing to stay here till midnight until we select someone. Why are we throwing in the towel,” said a frustrated Reyes.
“You mean to tell me that I woke up at 6 a.m. and sat here for seven hours on a Saturday to come up with no decision. I am very angry,” Spitzer remarked.
“The process was not conducted professional. It was a total joke,” said applicant Anna Titus.
“They changed the rules of the game after the game started over and over again. I was embarrassed for the entire ABC School District. The school board acted very unprofessional and it is time to get beyond putting the interests of “personal friends” before the knowledge and priorities of a functional board of education.”
Tse said the decision was a hard one. “I had personal friends interested and it made my decision very hard.”
“This was a total joke,” Titus said. “They lost track of what they were to accomplish. This is the most dysfunctional school board we have ever had here in ABC,” Titus said.
“It was a circus and a total joke said applicant Kiran Rami. This “back in forth game playing made me wonder just this board actually functions.” Rami said she is unsure if she will be seeking election in November. “I did this for our students,” said Rami who is a Professor at Long Beach City College. “It was hard core politics. All they cared about was how they could get their friends on the board,” she said.
Randy@Cerritosnews.net
