For Laura Chardiet, education has long been part of the family business. The daughter of a former state teacher of the year and an educator herself for 10 years, she is now seeking to parlay those experiences into a winning hand that will earn her a seat on the Culver City Unified School District Board of Education.
In the News’ second in a series of candidate profiles of the contenders for two seats on the board, Chardiet discussed some of the initiatives that she would like to realize if she is elected, how her experience in two school districts has shaped her and what assets she believes she can bring to the school board.
As the coordinator for the $15 million literacy program of the Los Angeles Unified School District, Chardiet touts her administrative qualities, as well as her experience of working collaboratively with parents and faculty as a former president of the Parent-Teachers Association at La Ballona Elementary School, where her two children attend.
The first-time candidate, who has also been an adult school educator in Culver City, strongly feels that her experiences as a teacher can help her make a possible transition to the school district’s governing body in a relatively smooth fashion.
One of the skills sets of a good teacher is the ability to promote collaboration among students, Chardiet says, a trait that she believes will serve her well on the school district’s governing body. “As a teacher, you have to be resourceful, creative and collaborative,” she added.
During an interview with the News earlier this month, Chardiet displayed confidence in what she feels are her core strengths and those include charisma. “I also think that I was successful as a teacher because I was a very dynamic, engaging teacher,” she said. “I think that it is a good quality to have in a leader because people want to follow somebody who is going to inspire people and energize them.”
Supporter Madeline Ehrlich listed another quality that she feels Chardiet will bring to the school board. “I find she’s a very good listener,” said Ehrlich, a former Culver City school board member. [Chardiet is] very adept at critical thinking and always willing to look at innovative and creative ways to make our schools better.”
Due to state budget constraints, the possibility of layoffs and furlough days have become watchwords in most school districts, including in Culver City. Recently, the CCUSD board restored two of the six furlough days for teachers and district staff members at the Sept. 27 meeting, but Chardiet thinks the district can look elsewhere to save money.
“I think there is a lot of accountability at schools for teachers and staff, and I don’t know if those kinds of stringent rules are applied to outside consultants or vendors that we pay,” the former teacher said in response to a question regarding where else a board member can look to save money. “I don’t know if anybody has tried to renegotiate those contracts but I would look at that.”
Chardiet says there are advantages to having worked in a smaller school district like Culver City but feels her experience as a LAUSD program coordinator has also given her a unique perspective that other candidates may not have. “Working at LAUSD has definitely given me a big-picture view,” she acknowledged. “The fact that I’m on the program evaluation team with the California Department of Education for my [LAUSD] grant gives me a wide view.”
Pursuing available grants is another initiative that she would like to push if elected to the board. “We need to do that,” Chardiet stated. “Even LAUSD is looking at the now doing that now.
“But the secret for us is we need to find grants that are in line with our core purpose,” she continued. “We don’t want to write a grant for something that is going to make us turn into a pretzel in order to make us fit the criteria of that grant.”
The role of charter schools could be a topic that the CCUSD board explores in the near future. Charters are publicly funded academic entities that have exploded in California during the last several years and in LAUSD, Chardiet is aware of the tensions that have transpired when charters share space with a traditional school.
“I think a charter school in Culver City would have unintended negative consequences on our public school system,” the former teacher asserted. “I think they would create an unnecessary division.”
On the Westside, there is a growing push back against the proliferation of charter schools, which have fewer regulations than traditional schools and their employees typically are not unionized. Two of the publicly funded organizations sought to establish beachheads in “the Heart of Screenland” this year.
“Charter schools would drain resources from our public schools,” said Chardiet, a frequent criticism of charters.
The school board candidate touched on a recent discussion of the allocation of the district’s capital improvement fund at the Sept. 27 meeting and how the board could have handled the situation in a different manner. “A common complaint among parents is that the process has not been transparent. They don’t feel like they’re a part of the conversation,” she said.
The capital improvement situation, as well as the budget deficit are the two biggest challenges that the board faces over the next few years, Chardiet thinks. “I think we’re going to spend a lot of time on those two issues,” she predicted.
The Culver City Teachers Federation is supporting both challenger and former teacher Nancy Goldberg and Chardiet, an endorsement that she highly values.
“That endorsement meant so much to me. It was incredibly meaningful to me,” Chardiet said. “It was probably the most important endorsement that I have.”
David Mielke, the president of the teachers union, says Chardiet’s history as an educator should be seen as an asset. “Laura has spent her life in education. Her dad was a teacher and a union member and she shared with us memories of standing in a picket line with him,” Mielke recalled.
Chardiet feels that a chasm has grown between the board and the teachers union that must be repaired. “When there are budget cuts, the attitude [on the school board] is ‘Well, teachers make up 85% of the budget, so they’ve got to take a cut,’” the former educator asserted. “I think that people who have not been around education their entire lives don’t realize that this is coming after teachers.
“There’s never a boon time for teachers and they don’t take a vow of poverty, so that is why I think that furlough days are far better option than layoffs.”
Mielke said having two educators on the board could balance what he feels has been a dearth of admiration for teachers by some of its current members who are involved in the legal profession.
“We’ve had a few years now with a ‘lawyer majority’ on the board and one of the things that we’ve seen is a lack of respect for teachers and for their union representatives,” the union president said. “Our system works best if the board sees employee groups as partners.
“If we can add Nancy and Laura to the board, we are convinced that we can develop a positive and collaborative employer-employee relationship that can only help our schools.”
Board members Kathy Paspalis and Steven Gourley, as well as president Scott Zeidman, are attorneys.
Collaboration is what Chardiet says she is all about and she hopes what she calls her proven leadership skills will translate into support from the electorate next month. “The breadth and scope and the diversity of experience, the training that I bring, is very diverse,” she concluded. “That’s probably the strength that I bring to the table, within the realm of education, more than any other candidate.”
Election day is Nov. 8