Two make plans to run for school board

It appears voters will have choices for the Newport-Mesa Unified School District board of trustees this fall. A longtime member of the Corona del Mar education community and a relative newcomer to town announced their candidacies for the board last week.

Karen Yelsey, whose youngest daughter graduated from Corona del Mar High School in June, will face longtime board member Serene Stokes in the Nov. 7 general election. Torrence Sullivan, an executive for the Irvine-based technology firm Evisions, has filed to run for the trustee area covering central Costa Mesa.

Aside from Yelsey and Sullivan, three other residents have expressed an intent to run, although they have yet to declare official candidacy to the Orange County Registrar of Voters.

Linda Sneen, who oversees Sullivan’s trustee area, has already announced that she will not seek reelection. If the other new candidates defeat incumbents Stokes and Judy Franco, both of whom are running this year, then Newport-Mesa could start 2007 with nearly half of its school board replaced.

“I think it’s time for a change,” Yelsey said. “It’s not only having new blood because they [the trustees] have been there so long, but I’d be a strong proponent of term limits..”

Yelsey, 55, a stay-at-home mother of three, has been involved in the PTA and volunteered at a number of school events. Her husband, Arthur Yelsey, is the founder and president of Mediaspot, a Newport Beach-based marketing agency.

Two of her main concerns if she were on the school board, she said, would be furthering technology at Newport-Mesa schools and improving campuses’ appearance.

Technology is also a key point for Sullivan, who worked as a senior analyst for the city of Poway in the late 1990s before joining Evisions. Although Sullivan moved to Costa Mesa just 11 months ago and has no children, his work has often connected him to the education world ? Evisions provides computer programs and support for Pacific Lutheran University and Loyola Marymount University, and a number of other universities and colleges.

Sullivan, 34, who has never run for office before, said he was inspired when he heard about the vacancy in Sneen’s post. Mike Brumbaugh, a Killybrooke Elementary School parent, expressed interest in running for the board earlier this year, but was found ineligible due to a mapping error on the Newport-Mesa district website.

As of Friday, the registrar was waiting for three other potential candidates to file their paperwork. Kimberly Clark, a marriage family therapist, may face Sullivan in November, while a pair of Newport Beach residents, Sandra Asper and Loretta Zimmerman, stand to oppose Franco.