ELECTIONS : OAK PARK UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT : 3 Candidates Draw on Varied Backgrounds

OAK PARK — The biggest problem this small school district faces is keeping students from outside its boundaries from enrolling in its award-winning schools.

So it’s not surprising that the three candidates vying for the Oak Park Unified School District board this fall have found little on which to disagree.

“Ninety percent of all parents in Oak Park are pleased,” said Paul Schroeder, who is challenging two incumbents for a seat on the board. “I have no major issue and no major criticism of the district. I do believe we’re already doing a great job. I want to join the board and do it even better.”

Schroeder, an administrator at a Los Angeles law firm, is taking on incumbents Jan Iceland and James Kalember in the Nov. 7 election.

The three candidates approach the race from different perspectives: Schroeder, as a parent and administrator who wants to put his business background to use in the school district; Kalember, as a former teacher who wants to follow through on his first term on the board, and Iceland, as a mother and community activist who worked with Oak Park schools before the school district even existed.

Iceland, 48, whose four children have been through the Oak Park school system, is running for her second term.

She worked on committees to start up the tiny school system in the early 1970s before it broke away from the Simi Valley Unified School District.

Iceland says she would like to retain her seat on the board to continue the programs started during her first term. The first of those, Iceland said, is the integration of the curriculum from kindergarten through 12th grade. Iceland said she would also like to pursue the School-to-Work program and improve technology by bringing fiber-optic networks to all of the school sites to improve communications.

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Iceland, who attended Duke University, credits the district’s conservative spending and commitment to students as reasons for its success. “In the past we have faced cuts,” she said. “But one thing I didn’t want is for those cuts to hit the classroom.”

Iceland has taken classes on being a school board member and is involved with the National Charity League and the Ventura County Commission for Children and Family.

Incumbent and former educator Jim Kalember, 49, said he represents teachers’ interests on the board. Although he is director of training for a Calabasas engineering firm, Kalember spent seven years as a teacher in public schools in Wilmington, near Long Beach, and in Oregon.

“One of the biggest issues facing us now is continuing to maintain the quality of education that we’ve been able to achieve,” Kalember said. “That means attracting new and high quality teachers, and keeping them.”

Seeking his second term on the board, Kalember calls himself a “catalyst for change.” He said he wants to continue pursuing partnerships with local businesses to start up a School-to-Work program in the district.

Kalember, who has two children in the district, has an undergraduate degree from UCLA.

Schroeder, the newcomer to the race, said he moved to Oak Park from Woodland Hills because of the district’s good reputation. He has children in the fourth and seventh grades.

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Citing his bachelor’s degree in management from Pepperdine University and his master’s in business administration from Cal State Northridge, Schroeder said he would bring a financial background to guide the district as it grows.

Schroeder has served on the district’s budgetary advisory committee and the Oak Hills Elementary School site advisory council.

He urges the board to improve communication with those organizations and parents by starting a newsletter and e-mail or a computer bulletin board where those interested in the district could interact.