Tustin Teacher Union Targets 2 Trustees : Educators Helped Oust 2 Incumbents Three Years Ago

Three years after orchestrating the defeat of two Tustin Unified School District trustees, the teachers’ union in the district has set its sights on two remaining incumbents.

The union’s first campaign came after a bitter teacher strike in October, 1985. Now, the Tustin Educators Assn. is working to defeat incumbents Joyce Hanson and Barbara Benson. One incumbent, Chris Layton, who has been opposed in the past by the union, is not seeking reelection.

“The teachers have lost faith in the administration,” said Joyce Rohrbaugh, president of TEA, which has endorsed three challengers but not Hanson and Benson.

3 Supported by Union

Supported by TEA in the Nov. 8 election are candidates Robert D. Machado, Dr. Harvey E. Kershnar and Merlin L. (Bud) Henry Jr., all of whom have criticized how the school district has been operated.

Machado has said the biggest problem in the school district is “the continuing decline in the quality of education in the district.” Henry and Kershnar said they think teacher morale needs to be improved. All three indicated that they might seek a new superintendent to replace Maurice A. Ross, who has frequently been attacked by the union.

Hanson and Benson said they believe that union leaders had them marked for defeat since the 1985 teacher strike. After that strike, the union unsuccessfully tried to recall Hanson, Benson and Layton.

The five candidates this year have divergent views on what they see as the election’s major issue.

Benson, who has served four terms on the school board, said she thinks there have been too many turnovers of trustees in recent years: “During a three-year period, we actually had 11 different members on our Board of Education. . . . With so many new members in such a short time, it can make the district appear to shift from one course to another like a rudderless boat.”

Benson said her retention on the board would “provide continuity and stability to our district.”

‘Caring and Safe Environment’

Hanson, 44, said: “Our biggest problem is to find ways to meet the educational needs of every student in the district, whatever their abilities may be, and to create a challenging, caring and safe environment in which this can take place.”

Hanson said she told the union before its endorsements that “I believe it is important for school board members to be independent, and so I was not accepting any endorsements of any organized group.”

She said she has support of many individual teachers.

Henry, 55, a management and marketing instructor at Rancho Santiago College, said he sees a need to improve “quality of all education programs” as the district’s biggest problem.

“Respect, trust and morale must return to the district if the quality is to be improved,” he said.

In addition to the union’s endorsement, Henry has the backing of Rancho Santiago Chancellor Robert D. Jensen and Rep. William E. Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton).

Machado, 42, a software development manager, said that if he is elected, he will work to “reverse the declining state of education in the district” and seek to improve California Assessment Program scores.

He said a “decline in the quality of education” in Tustin Unified is showing up and added: “This decline is evident in the decline of the state CAP scores for at least the last five years.”

‘A Truly Unified’ District

Kershnar, a physician who specializes in allergies and children’s health care, said the school system’s major problem is the “need to make Tustin a truly unified school district--the need to improve the relationship and morale between teachers and administrators and between the north and south part of Tustin.”

TUSTIN SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATES

Candidates are elected citywide. There are five people, including two incumbents, running for three seats.