Becoming involved on the edges of Councilwoman Meghan Sahli-Wells’ 2012 City Council campaign was the watershed moment of Dr. Kelly Kent’s political awakening. Seeing the energy around the councilwoman, who lives across the street from Kent, stirred a desire to serve Culver City in some capacity.
“Ever since then, I’ve been in her political and social circle and I began to get inspired about getting involved in local politics because it can make an impact,” she said.
Taking a cue from Sahli-Wells about learning the ropes of community engagement, Kent applied for and was appointed last year to the city’s Parks and Recreation Commission. That experience and suggestions from friends led he to consider running for one of the two open seats on eth Culver City United District Board of Education.
“Elected office was already on my mind and as I talked to people in Meghan’s circle they suggested that I run for the school board because I have the credentials, including an educational consulting company and I’ve been working in education for over four years,” Kent said.
But the turning point that spurred her decision to seek elected office was when Kent met another candidate for school board for coffee shortly before the filling date. “I met Scott McVarish for coffee and we discussed the school board campaign from two years ago and his involvement with the campaign. It was very congenial coffee and I think we learned a lot about each other,” she said. “During the last campaign there was this huge flurry of heat and tension and activism and organization and I couldn’t understand why there were only two people running.
“After the coffee, I realized if [McVarish and Ann Burke] are elected they will all be from the same organization- the United Parents of Culver City and every single voice would be the same. And that was something that I couldn’t fathom.”
Three days later, Kent decided to file just before the deadline.
Kent has been an adjunct professor of neuroscience at Moorpark College and has her own teacher development consulting business. As a newcomer to Culver City politics, she has been the target of a campaign that her supporters say is to distort her qualifications and marginalize her candidacy since she declared her intention to seek one of the two open school board seats.
Supporters of McVarish and Burke have attempted to frame the campaign as a referendum on who has attended more capital oversight bond hearings and who has been the most outspoken about the bond funding. Kent’s critics charge that she hasn’t been involved as McVarish and Burke in attending bond oversight committee or school board meetings, which they posit is a qualification to hold elected office.
Kent admits that she has not attended as many meetings as her challengers. “That’s a reality,” she acknowledged. “I have a little catch-up to do, but I am a very smart person and a very motivated person and it’s the kind of thing that a smart person can catch up with in about a month.”
But the commissioner takes umbrage with the notion that she is not ready for the school board because what some say is her lack of participation in the bond conversation. “I think it’s so short sighted. Most of the decisions about the bond are being made by the current board. The new members who join the board in December are certainly going to participate and there will be some important decisions that will be made but with the advice of experts and analysts. I am not going to be expected to do a dissertation’s worth of my own research,” she said.
“Even more so, to suggest that you want board members who are one-trick ponies and who are on the board only to consider how the bond money should be spent is really negligent and short sighted. Ultimately, this is about students, their education and the future of our society. It’s so offensive to me that the conversation of my opponents is essentially about money.”
The Culver City Federation of Teachers, the Los Angeles County Democratic Party, and the National Women’s Political Caucus L.A. Westside as well as CCUSD Board President Nancy Goldberg and former CCUSD president Scott Zeidman and fellow parks and recreation commissioner back Kent.
“Kelly is an exceptionally capable candidate…the board will flourish with her on it,” said Goldberg, who is retiring from the school board this year.
Kent takes issue with a proxy battle being fought in local blogs. Some of her opponents’ have stated that some endorsements? namely those who back Kent? are not credible or are less important than others. “They’re attempting not only to delegitimize me but also the organizations that endorsed me and I think it’s obscene to say that teachers don’t matter. I don’t think that it’s appropriate to have a board composed solely of non-teacher voices,” she said. “Voters want to know that those they elect are honest, intelligent, experienced and have their best interests at heart.
“And most of the endorsements are from community organizations and they really matter. I’m really surprised at how vitriolic people have chosen to be in this race.”
At Linwood Howe Elementary School, where her daughter is enrolled, Kent led the effort to create a Spanish enrichment program last year, which she says is one of her proudest accomplishments.
“She has led this successful endeavor from an all-volunteer pilot project to a fully-funded program serving over 200 children. This took vision, talent and perseverance,” said Sahli-Wells, whose sons attended the elementary school. “It highlights her abilities to work with children, parents, teachers, volunteers and CCUSD administration – all the stakeholders she will work with when she’s elected to the school board.”
Kent say there are other issues that are important for a school board member that match her skill sets and those have not been discussed in this year’s campaign.
There are some things that the school board is not doing a good enough job on, and one of them is sustainability, Kent says. “They have a committee that has been making recommendations for over a year that has gone almost completely ignored,” she said. “They bought 600 air conditioners last year- none of which are energy savers. Not using 100% paper is another one. And I hope the district will consider hiring a sustainability manager who can over see these recommendations.”
The parks commissioner’s idea of “flipped classrooms” is another initiative that she is championing. “In a flipped classroom, students do the bulk of their learning at home. You move at your own pace with a five or six minute video and you do the reading that corresponds to the video.”
This is important because a student and their parents would be able to chart a student’s progress without the student feeling that they need to complete their work at the same time as others, Kent said. “When they come into the classroom, they work on the problems together in the classroom with their teachers or at times individually. That way you can get much more one-one one attention,” she said.
Kent believes that the question of equity among students and at certain schools in Culver City- a concept that was largely dismissed by most of the candidates in 2013- is a valid one. “It’s been on my mind a lot. Graduation rate and college readiness rates are not equitable right now. We have to address it. It can’t be ignored or it will be further exacerbated,” Kent said. “Arts are well understood to be able to close the achievement gap and enhance student outcomes, as well as project based learning, which is a part of Common Core.”
Kent said she thinks most of Culver City is ready for a conversation about inequity, even if certain political factions do not. “The loudest voices might not want to hear it but the community that I’m most familiar with- Lin Howe- would be very receptive to that conversation. And if they are motivated in the right way, I think they will join the conversation,” she said.
The candidate says she take solace in the support that she has received as she walks Culver City’s neighborhoods, where she says almost no one talks about the nasty blogosphere campaign.
“I think there is a movement of people who have been quiet for the last two years because of the discord of the last campaign who are hopeful that there is someone new running. I’ve been really emboldened by it’s not just me against them; I’m being supported by this mass of people who have been waiting for someone to take the flag and fight for students and not just the money,” Kent concluded. “They’re walking and calling for me and calling for me and they’re very passionate and excited for me and that makes me even more confident that I’m doing the right thing by running.
“My voice is an urgently need voice on the board and I feel very optimistic about the race.”
The election is Nov. 3.
Gary Walker contributed to this story.
