ELECTIONS ’88 ORANGE COUNTY : Brea-Olinda Candidates Praise District

Unlike many other school board races, the trustee election in Brea-Olinda Unified School District features no fight between the ins and the outs. Instead, the five candidates in Brea-Olinda say they think the school system is doing a great job.

In the Nov. 8 election, three seats on the seven-member board are to be filled.

In questionnaires about why they are running for the school board, most of the candidates said they are unhappy with the level of state funding for schools, adding that they will work to get more education money from Sacramento. But no candidate had any major complaints with the Brea-Olinda system.

Susan D. Sokol, a pharmacist and community volunteer, said, “There really are no problems that I see. . . . The direction of the school system here in Brea has been very positive over the last several years.”

Lou Banas, a telephone company executive, praised the “high quality of education offered at Brea schools.” Banas, who now lives in Brea, formerly was a Norwalk city councilman and a member of the Cerritos College Board of Trustees.

Paul A. Pierce, a credit union executive, lauded “the quality education of our children,” saying he was running to continue that tradition in Brea-Olinda.

Bernard P. Kilcoyne, a businessman who was appointed to the school board to fill a vacancy last year, said, “We have one of the best qualified superintendents in California.” His praise was for district schools Supt. Edgar Seal.

Brian R. Burt, who has been on the school board since 1979, said he could point to objective evidence in support of his contention that Brea-Olinda Unified is a very good school district. “We’ve been very fortunate in hiring some of the finest teachers available and the consequence is that our test scores are consistently among the highest in Orange County,” Burt said. “Many people are moving into Brea because of the fine quality of education that is offered in our schools.”

BREA-OLINDA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD

Three seats on the Brea-Olinda Unified School District Board will be filled in the Nov. 8 election. Five candidates are running.

A photograph of candidate Paul A. Pierce was not available.