When the Culver City Unified School District Board of Education welcomed Nancy Goldberg and Laura Chardiet aboard last year, the configuration – and some say demeanor and outlook of the board- was altered. Meetings became less confrontational and more collaborative and some observers contribute that to the professional backgrounds of the school board’s newest members.
Goldberg and Chardiet, both former CCUSD teachers, joined fellow educators Karlo Silbiger and Patricia Siever on the school district’s governing body and for the first time in perhaps decades the board has representatives whose careers in many ways were shaped by their collective classroom experience.
Three days after their on the school board, Chardiet and Goldberg were interviewed by the News on a variety of topics, the passage of Proposition 30 as well as what they have learned during their first year and the transition from educator to policy maker.
Both women are pleased that Prop. 30, the ballot measure that was approved by voters on Nov. 6 that will provide funding for K-12 schools and community colleges through higher taxes on upper income residents, has passed. But they also say the community, teachers and the district have to be mindful that they still must be judicious with the new infusion of money.
“It was like a tourniquet that stopped the bleeding. We still have to be careful with how we proceed with these new funds,” Chardiet cautioned.
Goldberg, who retired after 40 years of teaching in the school district, says one of things that she is learning as a member of the board does not involve policy decisions. She now has the opportunity to visit some of the elementary schools and to see firsthand the new innovation that is taking place in the lower grades.
“Because I’m retired, I get to see some of the wonderful things that are going on with our schools,” said Goldberg, who taught at Culver City High School and who came in first place during the 2011 election. “It’s been a real eye opener.”
Both women credit Superintendent David La Rose with helping to create a new synergy between the district administration and the school board.
“He’s really shown that he is a good leader,” said Goldberg, who attended a conference with LaRose last month.
Creating a new sense of civility has been one of their missions. During last year’s campaign Chardiet talked about the skill sets that she employed in the classroom that she felt could be beneficial on the school board.
“As a teacher, you have to be resourceful, creative and collaborative,” she said.
The change in tone at the meetings has been noticed by Culver City Teachers Federation David Mielke. Last year Mielke said having the two former teachers would bring more balance to the school board.
“We’ve had a few years now with a ‘lawyer majority’ on the board and one of the things that we’ve seen is a lack of respect for teachers and for their union representatives,” the union president said. “Our system works best if the board sees employee groups as partners.”
Incoming board president Katherine Paspalis and then members Steven Gourley and Scott Zeidman are attorneys, and Mileke frequently clashed with the latter two, especially with Gourley.
“If we can add Nancy and Laura to the board, we are convinced that we can develop a positive and collaborative employer-employee relationship that can only help our schools,” Mielke continued.
Chardiet and Goldberg did not touch on budget negotiations, but Mileke is already thinking about them and how they will act when teachers bring their proposals to the board. “Previous boards would probably not have shown the same sense of respect that this board has and the tone has definitely changed for the better,” he said recently. “But Culver City teachers are 40 of 49 school districts in teacher pay and that has to be addressed.
“So for me, the question is: is the new board, including Laura and Nancy, going to acknowledge this is a problem and what are they going to do about it?” Mielke asked.
Neither member was impressed with the charter school Innovatory School of Professional Youth, which the board voted against granting an application to open an office in Culver City on Dec. 11.
Chardiet denied charges that the board had predetermined that they would not grant the application. “This is was not the right school for Culver City,” she asserted.
Goldberg was struck by what appeared to many to be an adversarial tone from the school’s founders and does not believe that a school where many of the classes will be online would have brought the city or its students any tangible benefit.
“It’s virtual school,” she said. “I’m not sure that students (at the K-12) level can adapted well to that instead of being in a classroom.”
Both Goldberg and Chardiet say the transition from the classroom has been relatively smooth but there has been somewhat of a learning curve.
“There really is a lot of reading that we have to do,” Goldberg said. “I never really had to do a lot of budget and running meetings, but it’s been a very interesting experience.”
Chardiet, who is the coordinator for a $15 million literacy program of the Los Angeles Unified School District, has administrative experience but is also still in learning mode. “So much of it is about listening,” she said. “Having a great staff to assist us with the day-to-day functions has really been helpful.”
The district’s capital works projects as well as budget negotiations are two important topics that await Goldberg and Chardiet in 2013. Both say they look forward to continue learning their way around the board, meeting with school personnel, faculty and parents to get a sense of the challenges of the new year.
“One thing that I’ve learned,” Goldberg concluded,” is that as a school board member, there’s always something new to learn.”
