Dear editor,
I spent a very short but tumultuous two years teaching at Culver City High School. The experience was Dickensian – both the best and worst of times. As a new teacher to the district navigating unfamiliar territory, the one consummate inspiration that Culver City Unified School District was committed to high standards and excellence was from my former colleague, Nancy Goldberg.
Nancy Goldberg led the English department in creativity, tenacity and commitment to excellence. She inspired students to the highest levels of critical thinking, writing and a love of literature. When she spoke at faculty meetings, the staff was ardently attentive. What I observed in Nancy Goldberg as a leader, expert educator and advocate for both students and teachers, places her in a category with only one other in my 35 years of teaching (Dr. Robyn Tunstall of Orange Unified School District).
Nancy Goldberg and I shared many students in our courses, who would come into the theatre continuing animated and intelligent conversations from their AP English classes. When Nancy attended our productions (never missing one in the two years), an electric excitement filled the cast and crew that the teacher they so loved and respected was in the audience. Her mindful and insightful questions at department meetings would challenge the rest of us to assess why we teach what we teach and how we teach it.
I have wondered a number of times what might have transpired, let me retract, what might not have transpired had Nancy Goldberg been on the school board when its current members, who have children in the district, took the first and second votes in February, as to my employment. Interestingly, they never stepped into my classrooms, never attended one of the theatre productions, and never asked a single question as to the validity of the accusations about my work. One would think that as board members, with or without children in the district, they might have had some interest in this much-over-publicized debacle.
In August, while still under contract with CCUSD, these same board members with children in the district voted to oust me from my position as the creative director of theatre, voted to hire a non-credentialed actor, whom I had trained as a teacher, and replace me in the AVPA. Not one board member or district employee contacted me. In an act of kindness, my replacement was the one to tell me the truth, much to his horror when he learned that I was still on staff. Only Nancy Goldberg, courageously stepped forward to learn the facts and the truth.
It is a false dilemma that because Nancy Goldberg does not currently have children in CCUSD schools, she does not have her finger on the pulse of the district. Evidence shows that having children in the district did not ensure that the board members made responsible decisions on behalf of the voters of this community. Nancy Goldberg is tireless, courageous and will not kowtow to rumor, rather than fact. She will also represent the district with integrity. She is the pulse of a district in need of ethical resuscitation.
Voters, do not hide behind false claims of ageism, petty jealousies and failure to seek the truth. You trusted her with your children for more than 40 years, why would anyone doubt her now?
Tamara Silver,
Culver City