Administrative positions and the contracts that come with them took center stage Tuesday, May 25 during the most recent meeting of the Culver City Unified School District Board of Education.
Four separate agenda items came before the board regarding CCUSD’s upper-level management, with each responsible for its own set of verbal jousting and the occasional fireworks. The hottest debate centered on the recommended approval for a new job description — the assistant director of special education.
Audience members voiced their displeasure over what they interpreted as a new administrative position being added to the CCUSD roster during lean economic times when certified staff is facing the possibility of layoffs. Meanwhile, board members Karlo Silbiger and Patricia Siever expressed their displeasure in not receiving prior notification about the position before Tuesday’s vote.
The end result was a 3-1 vote in favor of the position, with Silbiger in opposition and Siever choosing to abstain.
“I think we were hoping … there might be a streamlining,” said Culver City Federation of Teachers President David Mielke during public comment about the position. “I think here again, there are ways to try to meet needs and save money. If we’re streamlining at the sites, there needs to be a streamlining here at the district office.”
However, CCUSD Superintendent Dr. Myrna Rivera Coté explained the position was simply a change in title — formerly known as the assistant director of pupil services — and pointed to the need to fill the opening, created by the recent promotion of Drew Sotelo to director of pupil services, as soon as possible.
“We have a $7 million encroachment on special education. I need someone with an administrative credential to focus specifically on special education,” Coté said. “We can tweak some of the language as far as the job description. But the fact is we need to offer the position.”
Both Silbiger and Siever asked for the board to hold off on its vote for two weeks until the next scheduled meeting June 8 so that they could obtain more information about the new job description. Following the vote that canceled out those wishes, Silbiger didn’t mince words.
“I’m disappointed in my colleagues,” Silbiger said.
The board also voted 5-0 in favor of a new job description for the director of human resources, and to fill the positions of assistant superintendent of business services and assistant superintendent of education services. The board voted 4-1 on the contracts for the latter two positions, with Silbiger objecting to the documents due to their inclusion of $250 monthly mileage allowances.
Also during Tuesday’s meeting, Ali Delawalla, interim assistant superintendent of business services, made a presentation about the May revise to the California state budget, and how it could potentially affect CCUSD.
