Central : GARDEN GROVE : School Board Winners to Stress English Skills

Once they take office Dec. 6, the two new school board members in the Garden Grove Unified School District may help speed the learning of English as a second language.

Terry Cantrell and Bob Harden were the top vote-getters among seven candidates, beating out incumbents Dick Hain and Frank E. Noe.

Harden, 38, said that he will strive to improve students’ academic performance.

“We believe that the district can do a little better,” he said. “Terry and I both campaigned on the fact that the district scores next to last in the county on SATs. We want to take a long look at academic standards and performance of the district and see what we can do to improve.”

Cantrell, 41, praised staff and administrators but said the district must do more to speed the rate at which limited English-speaking students learn the language.

“I have seen fourth- and fifth-grade students who are far behind and not (able) to read,” he said. “I don’t see why we can’t guarantee a higher success rate among our students.”

Ken Slimmer, a longtime board member, said he expected the new and current trustees “won’t have any problem working together. Everyone seems in a high spirit of cooperation.”