SCHOOL BOARD SPLIT OVER JOB; PLANETARIUM POST FOCUS OF PALMDALE DISTRICT DEBATE.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Daily News Staff Writer

The debate over whether to hire an Australian astronomer as the Palmdale School District's planetarium director has taken on personal and political overtones.

At a passionate board meeting last week attended for the first time by a sheriff's deputy to provide security, the talk was of threats, ousters in the next election, and personal dislike as the real motivations behind the job snafu.

``I would like to see a team-building workshop among board members to be held locally. During these times it would probably be a good idea,'' trustee Sheldon Epstein said afterward. ``This board again will be very solid and professional. It's a totally unusual situation. People are passionate about one view vs. another.''

The dispute revolves around John Shobbrook, whom the board approved hiring in October. But in a 3-2 vote last month, the board withdrew the job offer and reopened the hiring process because of problems the district had obtaining his work visa. Trustees Epstein and Larry Logsdon cast the dissenting votes.

At the meeting last Wednesday, Logsdon made a motion to call a special board meeting to consider giving Shobbrook six more weeks to come to the United States but failed to get a second.

During the closed session portion of the meeting, Logsdon said he walked out after other trustees began talking about an issue related to Shobbrook but not on the agenda.

During the open meeting, Logsdon claimed another board member went to the personnel office and made inquiries on reopening the position, a charge other trustees have denied.

During the closed session, Logsdon said another board member wanted to know the names of people in the personnel office ``who said who the board member was,'' Logsdon said.

Also during the meeting, Barbara Walsh, an unsuccessful board candidate in the November 1997 election, said Logsdon tried to recruit her through her husband to run against trustee Helen Acosta in the next election.

Logsdon told her she would have the financial backing and support of the Republican Party.

Logsdon said he was targeting Acosta because she is the only one of the three who voted against Shobbrook whose seat is up for election in November 1999.

``I'm not going to support Helen Acosta. She's done an unethical thing here. She's interfered in the hiring process of an employee. All three have voted for the legal sabotage of this man,'' Logsdon said.

Logsdon also believes he was the real target of the vote against Shobbrook.

``I said if you do have a problem with me personally, you should not carry it over to John Shobbrook's employment,'' Logsdon said.

The other board members disputed Logsdon's claims.

Thompson said he told Logsdon no one on the board dislikes him or is trying to make things difficult.

Thompson said he requested the presence of a deputy because of a newspaper article quoting Logsdon saying the trustees who voted against Shobbrook would ``suffer the consequences.''

``I didn't know what to expect at the board meeting. I requested a deputy be there because I didn't know what I would be walking into,'' Thompson said.

Logsdon said he meant political consequences. ``Voters will vote for somebody else if you do this type of thing. That's the most tame threat I ever made,'' Logsdon said.

The deputy stood outside the boardroom.

The $1.2 million planetarium, located on the Cactus School campus, has been unused since its grand opening ceremony in October.