A popular incumbent surprisingly lost his bid for a second term as voters chose two novice candidates for the Culver City Unified School District on Nov. 8.
Nancy Goldberg received the most votes, 2,213, and took more than 34% of all ballots cast. Laura Chardiet won a razor-thin battle for second place, besting incumbent and current CCUSD Board president Scott Zeidman by 28 votes, 1,926 to 1,898.
Chardiet won 30% of the vote and Zeidman had 29.58.
The board president is the first incumbent to lose in a reelection race in several years.
Both Chardiet and Goldberg are former teachers in the Culver City school district and received the support of the Culver City Federation of Teachers.
Goldberg taught for more than 40 years in the school district and dozens of her former students participated in her campaign and spoke glowingly of their former teacher. “It has been extremely gratifying to see so many of my former students [in the campaign],” Goldberg told the News the morning after the election.
The board member-elect displayed a solid grassroots campaign team that helped propel her to public office for the first time, much like Rep. Karen Bass (D-Culver City) displayed in her maiden voyage into elective office seven years ago when she ran for the Assembly. Bass was an early endorser of Goldberg.
President of the Assn. of Classified Employees of Culver City Debbie Hamme, which backed Goldberg, said she thinks voters were looking for someone that would bring a less acrimonious nature to the school board. “I believe that the community wanted to see a sense of decorum and respect returned to the school board and Nancy certainly represents that,” Hamme said.
“Election night was extremely gratifying for those of us that worked on her campaign,” she said. “It was important for us to concentrate on the issues that affect our students and the community-at-large and that is what resonated with the voters.”
Chardiet, the coordinator for the $15 million literacy program of the Los Angeles Unified School District, was backed by labor and business organizations. During the campaign, she tapped into a well of supporters and contacts from her days on the city’s Parent-Teacher Council.
She thanked her campaign team of Madeline Ehrlich, treasurer Marin Neufeld and Joy Kecker.
“I had a very good team and they worked very hard for me,” she said.
Chardiet is “very adept at critical thinking and always willing to look at innovative and creative ways to make our schools better,” said Ehrlich, a former CCUSD board member.
Chardiet thinks the fact that both she and Goldberg have teaching backgrounds was important to a critical block of voters. “I think that people felt that they could get behind two educators,” the board member-elect said.
Goldberg mentioned a topic that she would like her new colleagues to explore, which has been discussed at the city council level but rarely at the school district until recently: deferred maintenance of the district’s infrastructure.
“We’ve been deferring maintenance on so many things that affect our children,” she noted.
Chardiet also pointed out that with the addition of Goldberg and herself, the school board would now be comprised of four women.
The board members-elect join Patricia Siever an Kathy Pasapalis on the board, who were elected with Karlo Silbiger two years ago. Siever and Silbiger are also educators.
Hamme feels that it was important to have teachers on the school board, despite speculation from online critics, bloggers and others on which candidate was the most qualified. “We heard a lot of theories this election season about what makes a good board member, and I think it is very important to have educators on the board,” she said. “But, more important than what a candidate does for a living is the kind of person they are and the sense of commitment they bring to their responsibilities as a board member.
“ I am excited to see the work that this new board will accomplish together.”
Zeidman’s campaign boasted support from a variety of current and former officeholders, as well as a number of teachers and the Culver City Chamber of Commerce. Elected in 2007, he was the public voice of Measure EE, a parcel tax ballot initiative that brought $6 million to the school district over a five-year period in 2009.
Both Chardiet and Goldberg were complimentary of his work over his team on the board.
“I was surprised that [Zeidman] lost because he was very well-liked and respected for his work on the board,” Chardiet said.
“I know that many people cared for Mr. Zeidman and I think he did an amazing job,” added Goldberg, who taught the board president more than 30 years ago at Culver City High School.
In an interview with the News shortly before the election, Zeidman said that no matter what the results were on election day, he was proud of his accomplishments during his first term on the board and his service to the school district’s families.
Zeidman was gracious in defeat. “The board will be well represented with [Goldberg and Chardiet],” he said. He noted that with in kind contributions, the winning candidates more than doubled what he spent on the election. “I vowed to spend only $10,000,” Zeidman said. “When other candidates spend twice that much, there’s more chances to reach people through flyers and other forms of advertising.”
Although many of his supporters told him that he was a shoo-in for reelection, Zeidman said he never consider the election to be a slam-dunk. “I expected it to be a close race, and it was,” he acknowledged.
CCUSD substitute teacher Robert Zirgulis took fourth place with 265 voters and Gary Abrams had 115.
Current board member Steven Gourley chose not to seek reelection.
The board members elect will officially take office on Dec. 13.