New School Trustees Herald Change in Policies : Education: The newcomers, with incumbent Robert Mann, portend better communication between teachers and administration.

HUNTINGTON BEACH —  Less than five months after the resignation of Supt. Diana Peters and two of her top assistants cast the Huntington Beach City School District into disarray, several recent developments have signaled a dramatic change in direction for the district.

New trustees Shirley Carey and Brian Garland, both advocates of change who were recently elected over a pair of nine-year incumbents, were sworn into office this week. The new board’s first action was to unanimously elect incumbent Robert Mann as president.

After three years of frequently being ostracized by his colleagues as a radical voice of dissent, Mann now has a sympathetic voting bloc in Carey and Garland.

“We are five individual board members with varying opinions,” Mann said. “But I think we can work collectively and have a good influence on the betterment of our kids.”

The recent hiring or promotion of several key administrators similarly marks a break from the past.

Trustees, staff officials, teachers and other employees have lauded interim Supt. Gary Burgner, who stepped in after Peters’ controversial departure last summer, for helping promote a new spirit of respect, communication and cooperation within the district and with parents.

This week’s hiring of Alan Rasmussen, a former district principal, as the district’s new assistant superintendent of personnel has also drawn praise from many district employees, who tout him as a personable leader.

The changes set the stage for a critical year in the district. Among other pressing issues, the board this spring is scheduled to hire a permanent successor to Peters.

The new, hopeful era comes on the heels of one of the district’s most strife-torn periods in recent memory.

Much of the recent unrest centered upon the district’s pattern of bitter, prolonged contract talks with its teachers union, marked by teachers’ demonstrations, work slowdowns and letter-writing campaigns. Union members also called a one-day strike in May, 1989, and twice cast votes of no confidence in Peters, whom they blamed for the labor problems.

By the end of the 1989-’90 school year, a rift developed between Peters and her longtime board supporters. Less than a year after the board voted 4 to 1 to give Peters a raise and a contract extension through 1993, she resigned, citing “philosophical differences” with trustees.

The board bought out her contract for $140,000, ending her four-year tenure. Her departure coincided with the resignations of two of the district’s three assistant superintendents, Ronald Brown and Rebecca Turrentine.

Mann said this week he is confident that after months of uneasiness, the district finally has weathered the period of tension surrounding Peters’ departure. “That’s in the past, and that’s not where this district is focused now,” he said.

Veteran trustee Karen O’Bric, a former Peters supporter, agreed that there is a new sense of hope in the district. “Parents and teachers are telling me ‘things are better,’ whatever that means,” she said. “And if so, we can’t help but feel that’s positive.”

Perhaps the most significant turnaround in recent months, however, has been a renewed optimism among leaders of the teachers union.

Union President Sharon Boudreau said she expects Mann, Carey and Garland, all of whom the union endorsed during the past campaign, to help ease communication between teachers and administration officials. A new collective-bargaining approach to contract negotiations will be introduced next week.

“I don’t think the administration will be playing the games Diana Peters played,” she said.

And, with Burgner, “I feel like he’s giving us straight answers,” Boudreau said. “The answers he is giving us may not be pleasant, but at least we’re getting honest answers.”