11 VYING FOR SPOT ON PANEL CITIZENS TO OVERSEE SPENDING.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Eleven people have applied to serve on the Antelope Valley Union High School District's citizens committee that will oversee spending from the $103.6 million school construction bond passed in March.

The applicants include retired high school teachers, a Palmdale councilman, a former elementary school principal, and a homeowner activist who belongs to a group that opposed the continuation high school that will be funded by the bond.

``As vice president of the Old Town Homeowners Group, we've been monitoring the board for the past 2 1/2 years,'' said Mary Spiva. ``Past board members have not been managing money really well. We wanted to make sure if the bond went through, that the money is spent wisely and well to make sure that what happened in (Los Angeles) Unified (School District) doesn't happen here.''

The Old Town Homeowners Group objected to locating the R. Rex Parris Continuation High School at Sixth Street East and Avenue Q, saying it would increase traffic congestion and harm property values.

District officials want to set up initially a committee of seven, the minimum number required by state law. The deadline to form the committee is June 23, which is 60 days after the board certified the bond election results.

The deadline to apply was May 24, but applications are still being sought because only one parent has applied. By state law, the committee must contain at least two parents of high school students.

The applicants include Jack Burnside, a member of the Howard Jarvis Tax Association; Mike Dispenza, Palmdale councilman and owner of an insurance agency; Rafael Felix, a retired Department of Defense worker; and Sam Hoffman, a guardian of a district student.

Other applicants are Patrick Kennedy, director of procurement and contract services purchasing for Glendale Unified School District; Charles Keortge, retired high school district teacher and former Lancaster planning commissioner; Deanna Larson, a retired teacher from the high school district who ran unsuccessfully for the high school board in 1997; and Felix LeMarinel, a Palmdale Education Foundation member and member of Palmdale School District's bond oversight committee.

Also applying were D.W. Orahood, who retired from the Orinda Union School District as director of business services and facilities; and Sandy Wright, who retired as principal of Sunnydale School in the Lancaster School District.

The panel is mandated by Proposition 39, the 2000 state ballot measure that made it possible for school districts to pass bond measures with 55 percent of the vote, rather than the standard two-thirds majority.

The committee will not control spending but is mandated to ``actively review and report on the proper expenditure of taxpayers' money ...'' By law, the committee must present a public report once a year to the school board.

At least five of the members must represent different sectors of the community.

One must be active in a local business organization, another in a senior citizens organization and another in a taxpayers organization. Another must be a parent of a child in the district, and another must be a parent active in a PTA or school site council.