CONSERVATIVE STOKKA OUT; HIGH SCHOOL BOARD SEES SHIFT.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Daily News Staff Writer

As ousted conservative incumbent Sue Stokka predicted a leftward lurch on the high school board, victorious candidates said they will work to build new schools and prepare students for the work world.

In a race for three seats, voters in the Antelope Valley Union High School District picked incumbents Steve Landaker and Bill Olenick and challenger Brett Nelson. Stokka placed sixth among seven candidates.

``They wanted a minor change (in not re-electing Stokka),'' said Nelson, 39, owner of the Steer 'n Stein restaurant in Palmdale. ``They wanted someone a little less controversial and more cohesive with the board.''

The three winning candidates will join trustees Wilda Andrejcik and Kevin Carney, who lost his bid to become mayor of Palmdale. The board in the recent past has mired itself in controversy over such topics as sex education, textbooks and curriculum.

Nelson credited his win to voters doing their homework on the candidates before they cast their votes.

``I think the people who vote in school board elections tend to research what they're doing,'' Nelson said. ``I think after people researched who I was, what I was about, my involvement over the past five years, they felt I was a good candidate.''

Nelson said he will continue to implement the high school district's plan to restructure its curriculum to better provide students with the skills required by today's society, stressing a revised ``Three R's'' - rigor, relevance and ``reality-based'' learning.

Nelson, who has been active with the district's culinary foods program that trains students for jobs in restaurants and catering, said he will also continue efforts at providing campus safety.

Olenick, a 46-year-old Los Angeles County deputy probation officer, had previously served on the board from 1985 to 1989 and was elected again in 1993.

``It's a wonderful feeling to be re-elected this way from a community where I grew up. I'm a known quantity. I grew up here, went to school here, and finished eight years on the board,'' Olenick said. ``The public spoke clearly. They agreed there has been tremendous progress made, and they want to continue the progress.''

Olenick said he will work on reducing class sizes and look for alternative ways to fund the construction of needed schools.

``We will explore areas to involve corporate sponsorships to raise funds we need to build schools without going to the taxpayers,'' Olenick said.

Stokka, a 54-year-old Lake Los Angeles homemaker, blamed her loss in part on low voter turnout, about 9 percent, and she lashed out at her opponents, singling out Landaker, Nelson and Olenick for running a ``dirty'' campaign.

``You had a very large and well-funded machine working against me, three men teamed from the onset who were determined to see me defeated,'' Stokka said.

``It was a successful, dirty race. The attempt to discredit me, apparently it was successful,'' said Stokka, referring to a revelation in September about an unpaid $85 photocopying bill for making more than 4,000 photocopies using district staff and equipment. ``They played that to the hilt.''

According to campaign filings, Stokka raised about $1,400 in contributions. Olenick raised more than $12,000.

Stokka said the new makeup of the board will shift the panel to the left. She said Andrejcik, Landaker, and Olenick are ``not moderate. They're left, very liberal Republicans. You have a four-way majority. Kevin Carney will be sitting by himself.''

Nelson and Olenick disagreed with Stokka's assessment, saying the board is made up of ``common-sense'' conservatives.

``Keep in mind that the majority of the board has always been common-sense conservatives. With Steve Landaker, me and Brett Nelson, that will just continue,'' Olenick said.

Nelson said, ``I'm a conservative Republican. I like to refer to myself as a common-sense conservative Republican.''

Stokka and fifth-place finisher Wayne Woodhall were two of seven conservative school board candidates who signed a ``Contract with Antelope Valley Families,'' a ``pro-family, pro-life and pro-America'' platform for public education.

Four of the contract-signers were elected.

In the Lancaster School District, incumbents Greg Tepe and Richard White were voted in along with challenger Keith Giles. Tepe, Giles, and unsuccessful challenger Edwin McClure signed the contract.

In the Palmdale School District race, where there were no contract signers, incumbents Fred Thompson, Sheldon Epstein and Velma Trosin were re-elected.

In the Hughes-Elizabeth Lakes Union School District, voters returned incumbents David Haerle and Lola Skelton Mantooth and challenger Robert Leder. Incumbent Charles Compton was unseated.

In the Westside Union School District, incumbents Larry Bosma and Charles Haskell, and challenger and former board member Christine LeBeau were elected. Bosma signed the contract. Incumbent David Ryckebosch did not run for re-election.

In the Wilsona School District, contract signer Patricia Greene was elected along with incumbent Michael Brown and challenger Emma Montesdeoca. Incumbents Frank Donaldson and Sharon Toyne did not seek re-election.

In the Southern Kern Unified School District, incumbents Dennis Youngblood, Roger King and Paul Rodriguez were re-elected.

CAPTION(S):

Photo

PHOTO (color) Steer 'n Stein owner Brett Nelson is the newest board member of the Antelope Valley Union High School District.

Jeff Goldwater/Daily News