Re “Board Makes a Pact with El Marino, Saying It Is ‘Equal’” and “Equal Not the Same as ‘the Same?’”
There was a time when Culver City Unified School District elementary schools and the parents who supported those schools with either their time or their money could be pitted against each other over words like “inequity”…
There was a time when the parent groups at El Rincon, Linwood E. Howe, La Ballona and Farragut looked longingly at the adjunct program at El Marino…
There was a time when parents at each school had limited contact with the parents at the other schools until their children matriculated into the Middle School and High School…
But that dog don’t hunt no more.
Why? Parents are talking to each other now, more than ever. Not only at fun events like the PTA Honorary Service Awards and the Education Foundation’s Tribute to the Stars, but through the formation of groups like United Parents of Culver City. In the past year or two, an amazing shift towards parent group cooperation among all of the schools has evolved. Parents realize that in order to triumph over devastating cuts to education, we must circle the wagons as a community and leverage our resources. We must share best practices, we must help when one of our groups is robbed, and we must pay attention to School Board policies that affect our children.
Old News…
George Laase and Ari Noonan are a little behind the times when it comes to parent reactions to Board Policy 4400. Mr. Noonan said the School Board had ratified an agreement that “has been criticized strongly by parents from other schools.” Really? Who? Had either Mr. Noonan or Mr. Lasse attended the meeting at District offices last August where parent representatives from EVERY school, Board member Chardiet, and a team of District employees including Eileen Carroll, Leslie Lockhart, and Ajay Mohindra worked through the draft of BP 4400 TOGETHER they would know that the last paragraph of the original policy regarding equity had not been “kicked through a trap door.” What happened is that our collective understanding has evolved.
Let’s be real…
Has anyone even read the Memorandum of Understanding that the District now has with ALLEM (Advocates for Language Learning, El Marino) regarding the adjuncts? I don’t think you can find a parent group out there who would voluntarily say, “We want to do that, too…we want to be responsible for getting folks checked for TB, we want to do sexual harassment training, we want to do live scan, we want to hire, manage, and schedule employees at our children’s school. We want to be responsible for Worker’s Compensation, etc.” For parent groups, it’s much easier to just focus on fundraising. As Linwood Howe parent Paul Wasleban likes to say, “I don’t want to have to be an employer.”
Why?
Why would El Marino fight so hard to keep their adjuncts? Because they believe that the adjuncts in the classrooms are an integral part of their children’s language acquisition? Yes. More importantly the El Marino adjuncts are people, most of whom have worked part-time at El Marino for well over a decade. They are cherished members of the El Marino family who are loved and valued by the children, the parents, the teachers, the staff, the principal… How could ALLEM not fight for members of their family? Moving forward…
Parents are upset that class sizes have grown and some programs have shrunk, due to state budget cuts. They want to help the District provide more teachers and instructional assistants. BP 4400 allows a way forward to make this happen. Should we, as a District, be looking at interns? Student teachers? Grants? Let’s see what happens…
Ms. Chardiet, a member of the School Board, may be contacted at lchardiet@gmail.com
