Seeking change on the board

Mark Itnyre is running for his first time for a seat on the Laguna

Beach Unified School District Board of Education.

“We bought a home here a little over five years ago and have lived

here full time for three years,” Itnyre said.

Itnyre was a teacher and has a strong family history in education.

“My grandfather was a principal, my great grandmother was a

teacher and my father taught high school and college,” Itnyre said.

He has two children in the district. “I’ve been involved with our

kids’ education from the beginning, volunteering from the time they

were in kindergarten to now,” Itnyre said. “My wife is also very

involved.”

Itnyre said what concerns him is the communication process and the

development of some of the projects and programs implemented by the

school board.

“[It’s done] without the consideration from impacted parties,”

Itnyre said.

One incident that inspired him to run for the board was the MTV

situation last year.

“It wasn’t until angry parents got involved that caused the school

board to reconsider the contract being proposed ... and how it

impacted the students,” Itnyre said.

He said the filming would not only affect high school students,

but all students because it was potentially a three-year deal.

He said he also looked at the problem with the building of the new

gym at Thurston and how it affected the neighbors.

“The neighbor issue became obvious once the building was completed

and now, after the fact, they’re having to mitigate the impact of the

structure and the lighting,” Itnyre said.

He said another example is the baseball field situation at the

high school.

“It’s a similar situation, and it represents the problems in

communication [the board has] with the community,” Itnyre said.

He said he is running more on the issue that the school board

should be more respectful -- with the community guiding the district

and the district communicating with the community.

Itnyre said he also feels the schools are behind in the times when

it comes to computer technology. “We should have computer-based

information where children can access their homework assignments and

parents can access events and planning from the schools,” Itnyre

said. “[There] should be computer tech support full time within the

district.