The Culver City Unified School District Board of Education will sport a new look when its two newest members are sworn in on Tuesday, Dec. 13.
The Dec. 13 meeting will also be the first for former teachers Nancy Goldberg and Laura Chardiet, the victors in last month’s school board election. Both women taught in Culver City and will bring, among other skill sets, the experience of what teachers and students are faced with on a daily basis within California’s school system.
CCUSD Board member Patricia Siever sees their classroom knowledge as a welcome addition to the board. “I absolutely love it,” said Siever, a West Los Angeles College professor who backed Goldberg’s candidacy. “The common interest that we have is education and hopefully, our common goal will be continued student achievement.”
Chardiet and Goldberg will join Siever and Karlo Silbiger, a teacher at Animo Venice High School in Venice on the board, giving the district’s governing body four educators. Board member Kathy Paspalis is an attorney.
Goldberg, who taught for more than four decades in the Culver City school system, came in first place Nov. 8 with 2,489 votes and Chardiet placed second with 2,188, barely besting incumbent Scott Zeidman, who fell 37 votes short.
Both women were backed by the Culver City Federation of Teachers and believe that their background as educators will be a plus on the board.
“As a teacher, you have to be resourceful, creative and collaborative,” Chardiet said.
Goldberg, who taught Siever’s daughter at Culver City High School, said doing research on specific items like the school district budget and other matters are reminiscent of what transpired when she was in the classroom. Research and preparation, she noted, “have the same demands when you are preparing a lesson plan.”
Both board members-elect returned last weekend from a four-day seminar held by the California School Board Association in San Diego, where they attended workshops designed to assist them in making the transition from candidates to policy makers.
“We learned about the Brown Act (California’s landmark open meetings law) and how technology is being used in the classroom,” said Chardiet.
Goldberg said the two compared notes during their time at the seminar and hope to continue to work together as the newest additions to the school board.
Siever said that when she was elected for the first time in 2009, she took a deliberate approach to learning the ropes of a new board, despite having served on a number of state education panels.
“I read a lot past minutes and agendas, and I didn’t jump right in without doing my research,” Siever recalled. “I think that it’s important to study the agendas as well as the people that you’re going to be working with.”
Collaboration will be critical for the success of the new board, said Culver City Federation of Teachers President David Mielke. “This board is going to be faced with some very difficult choices next year and working together is going to be essential,” Mielke said. “I think both Nancy and Laura have the right ideas going in, so I’m excited to be able to work with them.”
Goldberg said she has spent a great deal of time orienting herself with the particulars of complicated topics like how to understand the intricacies of district contracts and capital projects. “I’m hoping that I can comply with what’s expected of me with a certain amount of insight,” she said.
Chardiet, who is the coordinator for the $15 million literacy program of the Los Angeles Unified School District, said one of the initiatives that she would like to see established is a process for grant writing that will involve parents and other community members.
“We want to train people how to write grants,” she explained. “But the secret for us is we need to find grants that are in line with our core purpose. 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.”
Chardiet said she has identified three members of the community who will be trained to assist with grant writing: Nancy Richard, Heather Moses and June Steinberg.
One potential policy change that both board members-elect will be considering will be how contractors are chosen for capital projects. Subsequent to a Sept. 27 board meeting, some residents expressed displeasure with the current policy that allows Supt. Patricia Jaffe to unilaterally make the selection for an architect who will be involved in the design of the new athletic field at the high school.
Chardiet thinks the board should do the choosing, as it is the policy-making body. “I think that’s the best way going forward,” she said.
Goldberg is more concerned about how the public views the selection process. “If there is a policy change, it should be to make things more transparent,” she asserted.
Siever said that while there is a great deal to learn as a school board member, there was one critical question that all members should ask themselves: “Whenever you’re voting on something, the question should be, ‘Is this what’s best for the students?’ That’s the only thing that matters,” she said.
Mielke feels that Chardiet and Goldberg will be a refreshing change from departing members Zeidman and Steven Gourley. “I think that they will listen to parents, teachers and students, which is something that the outgoing members did not always do,” said the teachers union president, who frequently clashed with Gourley.
“The outgoing members felt like they knew it all and very often they didn’t listen,” Mielke added.
That skill will serve Goldberg and Chardiet well, said Siever. “The power is in the listener,” she said.
Chardiet says she is eager to begin her tenure on the board. “I’m excited about the prospect of protecting education for our students in Culver City,” she said. “I think that we are going to breathe fresh life into this board.”
Goldberg realizes that she may see former students and perhaps their parents in the audience from time to time. “I saw so many of them during the campaign,” she remembered. “There’s nothing like having a history with people that you care about. It’s very comforting.”
Mielke foresees a new era of goodwill between the teachers union, the public and the board. “I’m really looking forward to having a partnership with the new board,” he concluded.