Debate Over Election, Recall Goes Beyond School Issues : Politics: A key decision is whether to build area’s first permanent high school. But an airport, student safety, annexation and spread of gangs also figure in the battle.

ACTON —  In this small, high desert town, where most residents know each other by name, elections are usually casual affairs.

Not this year.

On Tuesday, residents will elect two new members of the Acton-Agua Dulce Unified School District board and decide if a current board member should be recalled. That’s what it says on the ballot.

But some residents say the campaign surrounding the school board election has degenerated to the point where people have stopped speaking when they pass on the street.

“It’s tearing the town up,” said Marianna Wallasch, 31, an Acton mother of three children.

At issue is the area’s first permanent high school, a project long delayed because of feuds over its location and the district’s ability to pay for it. Listening to candidates and local residents, however, indicates the debate has gone beyond school issues.

Vote for the wrong candidates, they say, and the high school may never be built. Worse, an airport might be built near an elementary school site and that would endanger children. Or the nearby city of Palmdale might annex the community and bring all its gang problems with it.

“As you can see, we’re having a real knock-down battle,” said Charles Brink, 54, one of 10 candidates seeking a spot on the board.

Four candidates are running for one open seat, three for the second seat. Three additional candidates are poised to fill a third seat if the recall of board member Laurelyn (Laurie) Browning is successful. There are approximately 6,000 voters in the district.

The winners may face a thankless task: Recent board meetings have been described as free-for-all verbal brawls resulting in threats by at least one board member to call police or have people thrown out. Six board members have resigned since 1991, many citing the stress caused by serving on the board.

“It’s the most vicious, vile, hateful type of environment,” said Agua Dulce resident and Browning supporter Anne Dinsdale, 47. Part of the board’s problem stems from the fact that only three members have been sitting on the five-member panel for the past six months, because of two resignations. All three board members must agree before any action can be approved.

Because a split has resulted over the future of the new school, senior high school students are being crammed into portable buildings at High Desert Junior High School while the debate rages on.

A new school would cost about $4 million and funding will only be available if a state bond measure passes in the future, an unlikely scenario, said Superintendent Thomas Brown.

However, state funds have already been approved for elementary school use, so two board members have said they favor building additional elementary school facilities nearby.

Junior high students would then be transferred to some classrooms in the existing elementary school. High school students would use the junior high facility.

But board member Browning, the target of the recall vote, has steadfastly stuck by a 1992 board vote to build a new high school on an unimproved hillside in Wallace Canyon. She said people opposing her efforts want to keep a permanent high school--and resulting problems such as gangs--out of the area and have students bused to the Antelope Valley.

“They like having the town empty all year,” she said. “They don’t want high school kids in their community.”

Brink, a Browning supporter who is running for one of the two empty seats, suggests recall proponents have different motives. He said many are local business owners who would like to see Palmdale annex the area, which cannot happen as long as the school district exists.

“Palmdale will allow condos in the community while the county will not,” he said. “The general plan for Acton is one- to two-acre homes.”

Recall proponents say Browning’s unrealistic hope that the state will provide funds to build the school presents the same threat to the school’s future she accuses opponents of.

Wendi Nutzmann said she helped organize the recall petition, turned in last October, partly because Browning refused to listen to opposition to her plan during her term as board president, which expired in November.

“When someone opposed her idea or someone wanted to come up with a new idea she was absolutely rude, she would not let them talk,” Nutzmann said. “Many times she threatened to call the police or clear the place out.”

The petition was also aimed at board member Joyce Field, who resigned last year after she was notified about the recall.

Browning supporter Dinsdale said hecklers have intentionally shown up at board meetings because Browning opposes a proposal to turn Agua Dulce Air Park into a county airport. The proposal is only loosely related to school issues--some worry extra planes could disturb a nearby elementary school--but Dinsdale said she thinks that is enough to motivate Browning’s opponents.

“Her opponents start screaming and yelling, and Laurie doesn’t let them go on,” Dinsdale said, adding, “I’ve never heard her be anything but courteous.”

Opinions about Browning’s chances of defeating the recall vary, although even the targeted board member concedes “there are casualties in war.”

“I’m not what’s the issue here,” Browning said. “The important issue is (that) we continue to move forward for our children.”

Board President Bruce Nahin agrees, stating he will be glad to have a five-member board again, regardless of who wins, so the district can reach decisions on the controversial issues facing it.

“Whether Laurie’s recalled or not recalled is not the issue to me,” he said. “It’s the other two seats that excite me.”

Candidates for the open board positions include Brink, Los Angeles city firefighter Richard Anderson, retiree Dennis Dee, minister Wayne Wilson, business owner Fred Fate, engineer Martin Barofsky and certified public accountant Val Jensen.

If the recall is successful Browning’s seat will be filled by business owner James Duzick, computer consultant Mike McKelvey or parent Stacey Nickels.