After enduring 16 months of spirited debate, the
glare of the national spotlight and an ill-fated recall attempt, things
have quieted down in the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District
board room, even though a school board election is just one month away.

The race among five candidates for two school board seats has not re-lit the fuse of past fireworks for several reasons.

Opponents of the two Confucius Classroom language programs, one at
Wedgeworth Elementary and the other at Cederlane Middle School, did not
obtain a single signature on a petition to recall board members Anita
Perez, Joseph Chang, Norman Hsu and Jay Chen, who all voted for the
program. The recall fizzled in June when chief opponent Rudy Obad, 74,
said, “we’d be better off … getting two people who think like us”
elected on Nov. 8.

Also diminishing the flames was Hsu’s decision to retire and not run
for re-election. Hsu, who served for 20 years on the board, supported
the Confucius Classroom program and was seen as the venerable leader of
the Chinese-American community in Hacienda Heights.

Read all about the candidates in Steve Scauzillo’s story Board.