Outgoing Acton trustee backs board challengers
ACTON — Since deciding not to seek a third term on the Acton-Agua Dulce Unified School Board, Trustee Steve Harbeson has clashed frequently with his fellow board members.
Now the only incumbent not running for re-election has turned on his colleagues, endorsing three challengers in the Nov. 8 election.
Harbeson said Larry Layton, Deborah Jauregui-Rocha and Leona Sexton are “the only candidates that I feel really care about the children of our district.”
Harbeson said he now notes when in the board meeting trustees first discuss students.
“Today it was 9:58 (p.m.),” he said after the meeting. Open session began at 7:30 p.m.
“This is the worst board we’ve had since I’ve become involved.”
Harbeson did not publicly state his endorsements, instead passing a note to a reporter before the school board meeting Thursday, so the news caught some by surprise, especially Sexton.
Sexton tried to remove Harbeson from office earlier this year and has become one of the school board’s fiercest critics. But that follows years of close involvement with the district, especially at Vasquez High School.
“That’s very nice to hear,” she said when told by a reporter of the endorsement. “I never had anything personal against him. It was just things happening in district. Actually, he’s a close friend of mine.”
The recall started after the district reassigned Vasquez Principal Steve Pinkston to a teaching post. Pinkston had been serving as an assistant football coach at the time, and many of his critics said he was spending too much time on the field and not enough in the school office.
“She was upset over a personnel decision,” Harbeson said. “Had I shared her view, I would have agreed with her. I think she’s the best candidate there is.”
Board President Fred Heslep, another incumbent who is seeking another term, also was targeted by the recall effort. He changed his tone, however, and proponents admitted he was no longer the problem.
After the recall effort fizzled, Harbeson and Heslep started finding themselves on opposing sides of many votes.
“We’ve had a lot of different viewpoints on way things should be done,” Heslep said. “It’s not a spiteful thing, but I can understand him not supporting us.”
Trustee Max Duran, the other incumbent not getting Harbeson’s backing, shrugged off the endorsements, chalking them up to the ongoing divisiveness on the board.
“He’s entitled to his own opinion, I guess,” Duran said. “It’s unfortunate that we have fallen out of grace with one another. I still like Steve. He’s a caring person and I think the recall took a lot out of him.”
Harbeson was board president in 2004 and usually carried a majority of the five trustees with him. This year, however, he has found himself more often in the minority.
On July 16, Harbeson cast the only vote against canceling a restroom installation project at Meadowlark Elementary and High Desert Middle schools. Underlying the vote was a sentiment that Meadowlark would close and the district would reopen Acton Elementary School, which it shut down in June 2004 to save money.
Harbeson left the meeting early.
The most recent board meeting, on Thursday, saw tempers flare between Harbeson and the two incumbents seeking re-election.
He clashed openly with Duran over a teacher’s plan to restructure the master schedule at Vasquez. The two interrupted and spoke over each other throughout the meeting.
At one point, Duran asked that Harbeson be recused on a vote to call a special meeting on the alternative plan.
Heslep and Harbeson found themselves at odds Thursday night over the new lights at the Vasquez High football field.
Vasquez Athletic Director Tim Jorgensen bought the stadium lights from Georgia Tech in an eBay online auction, then drove to Atlanta to pick them up.
Jorgensen has given trustees updates on the project, either directly or through administrators, but the school board has never voted to endorse the lights. Heslep said he worries about liability.
While Thursday’s meeting ended around 11 p.m. — early for Acton-Agua Dulce Unified, which has had recent meetings go past midnight — Harbeson and Heslep stood outside arguing for another half-hour.
The two said they have been friends for years and don’t let disagreements become personal. Heslep did say things have been more heated lately.
“Everybody is trying to do the best they can for the kids. The direction the board’s been going in, he’s been unhappy with, so maybe he wants to change it,” Heslep said.
“We parted friends as we always do, but he was being pretty hostile about some issues.”
Tags: acton, agua dulce, education, elections, vasquez high