Voters decide in LVUSD, city council races
Jordan, Whitehead, Iser elected to LVUSD board
By John Loesing
Acorn Staff Writer

MICHAEL COONS/The Acorn IN HERE-Agoura Hills resident Oliver Horeczky deposits his ballot after voting during Election Day, Tuesday morning at Agoura High School. Two city councils and a school district had elections.

Voters in Las Virgenes Unified School District on Tuesday elected two newcomers and an incumbent to the board of education.

Judy Jordan, the current school board president, led the overall balloting, followed by challengers Gordon Whitehead, an Agoura Hills certified public accountant, and Cindy Iser, a Calabasas lawyer.

Three seats were open.

Jordan, a retired teacher who won a fourth term in office, finished with 3,257 votes, or 26.42 percent. Second place finisher Whitehead received 2,824 votes, only 49 more than Iser.

"I was very hopeful. I was getting very good buzz from people connected, so I thought I had a good chance," Whitehead said. "In an election like this, anything can happen. The turnout was low as expected."

While Iser received the endorsement of the teachers’ union, Whitehead believed his support came from the public at large.

"That’s who I tried to appeal to because that’s where I see my services going to."

Whitehead, who campaigned on his ability to handle large budgets, said his first concern after taking office in January would be to see how Las Virgenes schools are affected by the state’s $14 billion projected shortfall.

"That’s a huge concern of mine," Whitehead said. "We’re going to take a hit and that will be hard to absorb."

Bicky Rippe, an active volunteer in the district and an office assistant at Lindero Canyon Middle School in Agoura Hills, finished fourth in the balloting with 2,454 votes, or 20 percent.

Advertising executive Bob Charney, a candidate with interests in special education, got 1,019 votes.

Less than 15 percent of the district’s 37,277 registered voters cast ballots.

Whitehead and Iser replace Charlotte Meyer and Amy Berns, longtime incumbents who decided not to seek reelection.