Two new faces to join LVUSD Board

MICHAEL COONS/The Acorn ALL SMILES-Charlotte Meyer, left, and Amy Berns are retiring from the board of education in Las Virgenes Unified School District. Gordon Whitehead and Cindy Iser will soon be replacing them.

Judy Jordan, the Las Virgenes Unified School District Board of Education president who was reelected Nov. 6, said she hasn’t made a decision on whether her fourth term in office will be her last.

Longtime school board members Charlotte Meyer and Amy Berns decided not to seek reelection this year, and veteran Agoura Hills city councilmen Ed Corridori and Denis Weber, who were returned to office by voters, have announced they won’t run again.

Seniority, it seems, is getting hard to come by.

"After every election I always say this is going to be my last term, but it hasn’t worked out that way, so I really don’t want to say one way or the other at this point," said Jordan, a 61-year-old former schoolteacher.

Jordan’s 12 years of experience will be a key factor on a school board in which two of the members are new and two others are relatively green.

Gordon Whitehead, a 60-year-old accountant, and Cindy Iser, a 46-year-old business lawyer, will take office in January. Pat Schulz and Terilyn Finders joined the board in 1999.

With her background in law, Iser said she’d be able to help the board navigate the increasingly complex issues of public education.

"I think my strengths lie in hearing ideas from the community and being willing and open to meeting with everyone and listening to everyone, and to come up with creative solutions and ideas," Iser said.

"I’m really thrilled the voters chose independent leadership and professional skills."

Schulz is slated to be the board’s next president.

"There’s a positive with having a new board," Jordan said. "There’s new ideas and new enthusiasm. It’s a much better board when there’s a variety of ideas … I’m very optimistic that we’ll have a great four years."

Jordan, who led with 26.4 percent of the vote in the Nov. 6 election, said she received broad base support from teachers, educators, community leaders and current and past PFC (parent-faculty club) presidents.

"Even though I didn’t have the support of the teachers’ union, I had the support of many, many teachers," said Jordan, a Calabasas resident.

The Las Virgenes Educators Association threw its support to Iser.

"The way to win elections is through votes. The teachers don’t all live in the district and they’re not all voters," said Iser, a Calabasas resident. "I had widespread support from all parts of the district."

Iser led all candidates in campaign spending with $17,210.

She said she looks forward to holding her first elected office.

"I have a lot of things to read, people to talk to, meetings to attend," Iser said "There’s a lot of work to be done."

Voter turnout was the highest in communities where both city council and school board elections were on the ballot. Westlake Village had a 22 percent turnout and Agoura Hills had an 18 percent turnout. Calabasas and Hidden Hills were under 5 percent.