ESCONDIDO -- The San Pasqual Union School District may be small, but it's big at the ballot box this year.

Seven candidates, more than any other school board race in North County, are running in the district, which has only 558 students and one school.

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Five of the candidates are running for two, four-year terms and two other candidates are running to fill the remaining two years of former trustee Marie Berger's term.

In the race for the four-year terms, incumbent Howard Cottam is running for re-election and is joined on the ballot by community volunteer Angie Baker, retired business owner Timothy Cunning, businessman Scott Heidemann and school counselor Curtis Ohl.

Board President George McClure is not seeking re-election because he is running for the Escondido Union High School District board of trustees, ensuring that the district will have at least one new board member after the Nov. 4 election.

Voters also will elect one trustee to serve the remaining two years left when trustee Berger resigned last year. Blaise Jackson was appointed to serve on the board until the election, and he and business owner Brian Arnold are on the Nov. 4 ballot to serve the remaining two years.

Jackson said the large number of candidates in this year's race is unusual for San Pasqual, as just two years ago no challengers entered the race to oppose the incumbents. He suspects that interested candidates sat out the last election because they did not want to try to unseat an incumbent and are seizing the opportunity this year to run for an open seat.

Jackson said he is running for the two-year term to complete the term he already is serving. A father of two teenagers who went through the school district, Jackson is an attorney who represents water and hospital districts, which he said deal with many of the same legal issues as school districts.

Challenger Arnold described himself in his candidate statement as a father of four, a business owner for 22 years, a member of the Escondido Little League board of directors and a Scoutmaster.

"My only interest in serving is to keep the high level of expectation and achievement, both from the faculty as well as the students," he wrote about the district.

In the race for four-year terms, Heidemann described himself in his campaign statement as the president of the Broadway Theatre Arts Academy, a businessman and father of four children in the district.

"The board must focus on student achievement, staff retention, technology and funding," he wrote. "With over 20 years of management experience, particularly in accounting and financial management areas, my background provides an excellent framework for assisting the board."

In his candidate statement, Cunning described himself as a retired business owner at 46 who has a master's degree in accounting and who served on the board of directors of a few companies.

Cunning wrote that his family moved to Escondido in 1972 and that he has lived in the San Pasqual Valley for nine years. He and his wife have two children, ages 8 and 11.

"We desire to serve our community and help its children get the best education possible," he wrote.

Challenger Baker described herself as a school district volunteer for the past seven years. She and her husband have three children in the school district, and she has volunteered in the classroom and as a tutor. Baker also wrote in her statement that she is a board member on the school's foundation and is responsible for the financial side of her husband's business, Baker Orthodontics.

Ohl is a parent of two children, ages 4 and 7, who are attending district schools. Until last year he had been a school counselor in Victorville, which meant a five-hour round trip each day.

"I've been in education 20 years, so I certainly think I know how schools run," said Ohl, who has worked as a teacher, counselor, assistant principal and principal.

Ohl said he running for the school board because he thinks trustees do not always include parents in decisions or keep them informed. As examples, he said he and other parents did not know about the new principal who was hired and they did not know the district had changed its agreement with the Wild Animal Park, where it operates a school room, from a five-year lease to a year-to-year lease.

Contact staff writer Gary Warth at (760) 740-5410 or gwarth@nctimes.com.