Fourth in a series.
Re: “Nothing ‘Middle’ About the Middle School”
[Editor’s Note: Continuing this portion of his For Great Schools series, Scott McVarish, co-founder of the United Parents of Culver City, interviews School Board member Kathy Paspalis. On the Board for 5 ½ years, she has two children who are coming into their junior year at the high school. They were at the Culver City Middle School and at El Marino prior to that. Today’s subject is the School Board itself. See www.facebook.com/forgreatschools]
Mr. McVarish: The School Board is functioning impressively. But you are about to lose 40 percent of your members. Nancy Goldberg and Laura Chardiet are not running for re-election. Part of the team you guys have created will need to be rebuilt. What are you looking for in School Board members? What would be your message for those interested in joining this team?
Ms. Paspalis: Temperament and good listening skills. In the first year, you want to get in there and make changes. Changes will be made. Your best thing to do, though, is to listen and learn because it’s all new. People get onto the Board and they want to support teachers. I hate to tell you, most of the work with the Board is not about curriculum. We do five real things: Facilities– and we now have bond money to do that– budget, personnel, student discipline and curriculum. A lot of the curriculum is, frankly, shaped by the Education Code, by Common Core and other things. We did implement a K-12 music curriculum. That is an important piece of what our kids should be learning. Music helps with math, helps with language, just kids’ sanity. That can be what keeps some kids in school. It is music, theater, art, for some, athletics for others. We want to keep those well-rounded programs.
I would look for somebody who will hear multiple sides of an argument. During the height of the Recession, when I started on the School Board, we had to cut, cut, cut, cut, cut. You do what you have to do. You talk about, “Are we going to have enough paper towels, paper, toilet paper to make it through the end?” I mean, it was kind of a crazy situation. Now we have money, we have bond money, and people are like, “Me first, me first! This is more important, that’s more important.” You want to listen, but that is the Board’s decision. You want to take it in and you want to hear from the various stakeholders. What is important is to focus on the bottom line? What do the kids need? What do our students need to get the best education they can from our K-12 system? You will hear from the elementary teachers, “We need this, that.” You’ll hear from the secondary teachers, “We need this, that.” You have to look at the whole and see what you can do at each facility.
Fortunately, we are not as run down as some places. We certainly do need some shine. But we are going to pull it together soon.
(To be continued)
