First of two parts
Not that the most dynamic of the three new members of the School Board needed one more trumpet in his band.
Nor did he have any need to spike the attention he routinely attracts.
And so, on Election Night before an admiring, if not adoring, crowd of about 100 in a roomy private home in the South End of Culver City, Karlo Silbiger stepped to the microphone.
Thrilled that he had succeeded after years of preliminary skirmishes and career-launching gestures, he adopted a tone of voice as casual as if he were going to reveal that PBJ sandwiches are his favorite post-meeting snack in his Victory Speech.
“Here is what I said,” Mr. Silbiger said the other day. “I thanked the people and I spoke about my vision.
“At the very end, I said — I wanted to make sure the people saw the incredible diversity that was coming to the School Board.
Youth Has Been Served
“I don’t think there ever has been a group of people elected in Culver City as diverse as we’ll have now. I mentioned that I will be the youngest elected official ever, I think (at 27 years old).
“Then I mentioned we also have two LGBT members on the School Board (himself and Kathy Paspalis),” the first time any elected official in this town has acknowledged that fact.
“People were very excited,” Mr. Silbiger said, “at the fact we have diversity.”
As a realist, he conceded that “you can have a diverse group that doesn’t function well.
“What’s great about our new Board is that you have a group of five people who are incredibly representative of every aspect of our community, including the various levels of education.
“Pat Siever and I are both ptofessional educators. We will bring that perspective. Steve Gourley is professionally involved in politics and in policy-setting. Kathy Paspalis and Scott Zeidman are parents, who bring the perspective of parents with children in school.”
Being Progressive
Mr. Silbiger was asked if his LGBT statement had been long in the planning.
“That was important to me,” he said, “especially as I saw how the election results, I thought, were going to come in.
“It was important for me to show the community and to show my supporters what an incredible place we were at in Culver City.”
What was its significance?
“To demonstrate diversity,” said Mr. Silbiger. “Culver City has a reputation, and I am not sure whether it is deserved, for not being as diverse, in its leadership, as many of the communities around us.
“This is not an issue that affects only Culver City. I don’t think Santa Monica has any non-white City Council members. I think West Hollywood has an all-white City Council.
“Culver City is very diverse, and I think we are finally seeing it rise up to the leadership level.
“Having Chris (Armenta, who is Hispanic) on the City Council, having Saundra (Davis, who is black) on the School Board and now having Pat (Siever, who is black) on the School Board brings racial diversity.
“As I said, adding the age diversity and the sexual orientation diversity, it just shows what incredible strides we have made.”
As a concept, said the Board member who will take office a week from Tuesday, Dec. 8, at 6 o’clock at Lin Howe School, “diversity is not neutral. It only can be positive. It provides a positive role model for students and it provides different perspectives when making decisions. People who come from different places, by their very nature, will come to different conclusions.
“But I want to make it very clear, just because you have a diverse group doesn’t necessarily make it good.”
(To be continued)
