Incumbents in district, college race win voter support; Krikorian
receives the most votes

Wagner to fill spot on school board

Glendale News-Press
April 7, 2005

By Darleene Barrientos, News-Press and Leader

GLENDALE — Education board incumbents all easily reclaimed their seats
Tuesday, with one challenger, Joylene Wagner, joining their ranks.

Wagner might have been the last candidate to file papers, but the active
PTA volunteer and substitute teacher emerged to claim the third spot on
the Glendale Unified School District board of education.

Wagner won 14.3%, or 9,100 votes, trailing incumbent Chuck Sambar — who
pulled in 14.5% — by 94 votes.

“There was a network of people out there who knew me and could speak of
me from their experience,” said Wagner, who spent two decades with
Glendale PTA. “I’m glad for that. Sometimes, friends are better than money.”

Wagner’s campaign was more modestly funded than challengers, Cal State
Los Angeles professor Nayiri Nahabedian and New Horizons Family Center
founder and executive director Maria Rochart.

Wagner raised about $8,000 to Rochart’s $58,681. Rochart was the
sixth-highest vote getter, after former board member Louise Foote, who
did not fundraise at all. Incumbent Greg Krikorian received the most
votes with 12,619 or 19.9%.

“I’m extremely overjoyed,” Krikorian said. “It just shows the confidence
the community has in me and what we’ve accomplished as a board these
last four years. I’m truly humbled by the support of the community.”

Glendale Community College incumbents maintained a strong hold on their
seats with board President Victor King pulling in 30.1% of the vote or
15,174 votes — the highest number of votes received by any of the 43
candidates up for election Tuesday.

“I had a lot of good indicators I would get a lot of votes,” King said.
“A lot of people know me because I went to kindergarten with a lot of
the voters … I think that longevity translated into my getting a lot
of votes. It certainly was not the money I put in.”

Board member Armine Hacopian won 14,363 votes, or 28.5%, while Vice
President Anita Gabrielian won 13,384, or 26.6% of the votes cast.

The biggest upset of the Glendale Community College race was the loss of
trustee Ara Najarian, who was elected to the City Council.

“We’re expecting big things from Ara,” King said. “As a former parking
commissioner and college trustee, if we’re expecting more parking, that
burden must fall on Ara’s shoulders. If anyone can rally the
constituencies to get the college more parking, it’s got to be him.”

The college board will likely issue application invitations to the
community and appoint a replacement to fill Najarian’s space for the
next two years, King said. Challenger Linda Sheffield will not
automatically be chosen because she ran for the board, he said.

“She’s most certainly invited to apply for appointment, but we’re
probably going to handle [it] in the exact manner when we replaced Mary
Hamilton in 2002,” King said. “It worked really well, so there’s no
reason why we wouldn’t go through the same thing.”

DARLEENE BARRIENTOS covers education. She may be reached at (818) 637-3215.