Longtime PTA leaders Anita Avrick and Laura Emdee won election to the Redondo Beach Unified School District Board of Education Tuesday night in the city’s historic first all-mail election.
Avrick and Emdee nearly doubled the vote total of Arda Clark, the wife of outgoing board member Carl Clark who was heavily backed by the influential South Bay United Teachers union. The SBUT poured close to $30,000 into the race on behalf of Clark. Emdee and Avrick ran mostly self-funded campaigns in which they spent about $7,000 and $6,000, respectively. The teacher’s union, which counts more than 800 California Teacher Association members as Redondo residents, had not backed a candidate who lost in more than a decade.
The winning candidates, who are close friends and shared a core group of about 40 volunteers, credited the grassroots nature of their campaign.
“We won because of the support of every single person in this room,” said a jubiliant Emdee at a celebration Tuesday night at a North Redondo home.
The pair also won because of a serious “ground game” that managed to knock on roughly 4,000 doors during the course of the campaign.
“It was hard work and a lot of personal contacts,” Avrick said. “We went out and met a lot of people.”
Avrick led all candidates with 4,985 votes, or 40.2 percent, followed closely by Emdee with 4,965 votes, or 40 percent. Clark received 2,458 votes, or 19.8 percent.
Turnout was stronger than at each of the city’s two previous municipal elections. According to City Clerk Eleanor Manzano, by Tuesday 7,500 ballots had been counted, with a few hundred more remaining to be verified. Manzano said 6,800 people voted in the 2007 election and about 7,000 voted in 2009.
“We are very pleased,” said Manzano. “The participation was just awesome.”
Four unopposed city candidates – Manzano, City Treasurer Ernie O’Dell, and City Councilmen Pat Aust and Matt Kilroy – also won reelection.
The school board election featured an unusual dynamic. The teachers union endorsed both Clark and Avrick, but Avrick declined to appear on SBUT campaign flyers or participate in phone banking because she strongly supported her friend, Emdee. Avrick, a retired stage manager, therefore received no financial support from the union.
“It was never a question in my mind,” Avrick said. “Of course I was going to stand by my friend.”
Emdee, a former marketing professional, developed a plan for both campaigns in August and never veered from it. She admitted she was slightly daunted when she realized the amount of resources the SBUT had committed to the race.
“I am not sure I would have run if I’d known they were going to spend that kind of money,” Emdee said. “But we really believed in it.”
Avrick also credited the ties with the community both had made during 18 years as PTA volunteers. She summed up the power of those connections in a single word. “Moms,” she said.
Avrick said she didn’t have any drastic changes in mind for the school district as she takes her seat at the board. “We are just going to listen to the community,” she said.
Emdee said that one change would be a greater emphasis on the so-called “middle student,” those who are not advanced and not special needs who a recent study showed are not graduating with all the requirements needed to enter California state universities.
“I want make sure that C.P. [College Preparatory] really is C.P.,” she said.
Clark wished her fellow candidates well.
“I’m naturally disappointed,” Clark said. “But I wish Laura and Anita and the school district all the best. It was a great experience talking to people and being part of the democratic process.” ER
