Unchallenged Candidates ‘Win’ School District Races

When Jim Duffy put in his bid for a seat on the South Bay Union High School District Board of Education, he expected to find himself embroiled in a campaign battle with other contenders in the November elections.

But only two other candidates filed for three vacancies, so this week the county registrar-recorder’s office called off the battle for lack of a contest.

For the same reason, the county canceled school elections in the Lawndale and Wiseburn elementary districts. They also had only three candidates each for three open seats.

Those who filed--challengers and incumbents seeking another term--can serve for four years in their respective districts, just as if they had been elected, a notice from the county said.

The short-version elections saved each of the districts from $6,000 to $10,000, which made school officials happy. And none of the unopposed candidates objected to being handed the prize without a fight. “I really expected some opposition,” said Duffy, a Manhattan Beach resident and aerospace engineer. “But it’s fine this way too.”

Duffy, who has been active in civic organizations for many years, said he has long had an interest in school affairs and intended to run some day for the high school board.

Duffy and two incumbents up for reelection, Tom Downs and Lyn Flory, will be sworn in at the board’s organizational meeting in December.

In Lawndale, Trustee-elect Thomas Wayne Garrett said he ran for the local school board 16 years ago. “But I didn’t make it,” he said. Then, he said, he got very busy in his career, traveling to such places as Saudi Arabia and Alaska.

Finally, he settled into a sales job with a microfiche firm in the South Bay, he said, and decided that it was time to run again for the school board.

“This is like a dream come true,” he said Thursday. “I was planning to order banners, ribbons, potholders and all that campaign stuff tomorrow. But I guess I can wait for the next time.”

He will be officially seated at the board table in December with incumbents Bonnie Coronada and Robert Kruse, whose terms will be extended for another four years.

Wiseburn Activist

In the Wiseburn district, which serves the west part of Hawthorne and an adjacent county area, Trustee-elect Angelina Garza was long known for her active role as a parent in school affairs. Supt. John McCarthy praised her as one of the “old reliables who can always be counted on to pitch in whenever help is needed.”

Then, a while ago, Garza said, she was talking with a trustee about the upcoming elections, and the trustee said: “Hey, Angie, why don’t you run for the school board?”

She couldn’t have picked a better time. Garza, an administrative secretary at an aerospace firm, will be sworn into office with incumbents Walter Guerrero and Daniel Juarez in December.