Board of Education Sings Swan Song for Weintraub

Roberta Weintraub, the longest-serving member of the Los Angeles Board of Education, was honored Monday in an emotional retirement ceremony celebrating the controversies and quirks of her 14-year career.

From the strident anti-busing campaign that won her election in 1979 to her penchant for fitness and big, dangling earrings, Weintraub was described as a passionate force for whatever cause she embraced, and as a woman whose ever-changing image and interests reflected the city around her.

“No other elected official has shown so much growth over time and has been so impossible to pigeonhole,” board member Mark Slavkin said of Weintraub, who is leaving to campaign for the break-up of the Los Angeles Unified School District and possibly, she said, to pursue a political career.

Long identified as a conservative voice for the San Fernando Valley, Weintraub, 57, was a brassy doctor’s wife when she joined the school board and is still remembered for angering the black community by calling Rita Walters--at the time the board’s only black member--a “bitch” on a live radio broadcast.

But on Monday, a dignified Weintraub fought back tears as unlikely allies talked of how she had defied their expectations.

Black board member Barbara Boudreaux, a former principal, remembered Weintraub for not being afraid to visit her inner-city school. “You just stepped out of the car and I appreciated that,” she said. And City Councilwoman Walters, though not present, was the sponsor of a council resolution passed in Weintraub’s honor.

In the most emotional moment of the ceremony, Boudreaux also thanked Weintraub, whose younger son Michael died in a car accident nearly eight years ago, for her kindness when Boudreaux also lost a son.

Other well-wishers included retired Superintendent Bill Anton and City Councilwoman-elect Jackie Goldberg, the liberal former school board member whose platforms so often clashed with Weintraub’s.

“Some people called us ‘Frick and Frack,’ and at times it seemed we were on opposite ends of the world pulling at each other,” Goldberg said Monday as she presented Weintraub with a bouquet of red roses.

“But one thing made it possible to work together and that was knowing how sincere she was about what she believed in . . . with a commitment as deep as anything in nature.”

Weintraub served four terms on the board and was elected three times as its president.

Though Weintraub began as a conservative Republican and staunch antibusing opponent, she has championed liberal causes over the years, such as equal pay for the district’s women employees and high school health clinics that dispensed birth-control--at one point, challenging Roman Catholic Archbishop Roger Mahony to debate the issue.

But as she changed, she alienated many of her original supporters.

Two years ago, Weintraub switched party affiliation, prompting speculation that she wanted to leave the school board for political office--possibly the seat occupied by her old ally state Sen. David A. Roberti (D-Van Nuys), who must retire in 1994 because of term limits.

And last year, she angered many parents and school activists who accused her of betraying the Valley’s interests by supporting a district reapportionment plan with boundaries designed to get Latinos more voting power on the board. She did not seek re election this year, and her seat--representing board district number 6--will be held by Julie Korenstein.

At a reception in her honor Monday, Weintraub said she was still undecided about running for political office but that the “door is open.”

For now, the recently divorced Weintraub said she plans to hit the national lecture circuit between working with Roberti on the district breakup, with a children’s foundation, and the state Bar Assn.

Waxing nostalgic as she nibbled on fresh fruit and trail mix set out in her honor, the health buff said her changes have reflected those in the Valley and that she had no regrets.

“There’s no resemblance to the Valley of yesteryear. So I’m happy with what I’ve done.”

Weintraub’s Career Highlights

June 8, 1979: A full-time homemaker, Weintraub took a seat on the LAUSD Board of Education.

1979-81: Served as president of the school board.

Dec. 4, 1987: Campus health clinic opened at San Fernando High School, offering birth control counseling and birth control devices to students. Weintraub supported the plan.

1988-89: Served as president of the school board.

April, 1991: Changed her party registration to Democrat, prompting speculation that she was interested in running for another office.

July 6, 1992: Backed a redistricting plan that potentially increased Latino representation on school board.

Jan. 19, 1993: Announced she will retire June 30 from the Los Angeles school board.

Jan. 29, 1993: Appointed to the State Bar of California’s board of governors, which oversees the quasi-public bar that tests, regulates and disciplines practicing lawyers in the state.

Feb. 1, 1993: Backed a toughened weapons policy mandating that any student caught with a gun on campus will be expelled from the district for at least two semesters.