[Editor’s Note: Below are letters from two of Nancy Goldberg’s former students and a former teacher backing her candidacy for the School Board.]
To suggest that Nancy Goldberg does not understand how our School District works simply because her biological children are not currently enrolled in it, unfairly discounts her amazing contribution of 41 years of teaching thousands of Culver City's children.
Nancy Goldberg is offering us a lifetime of caring, dedication, and knowledge. We should take her up on that offer. In a city with an average School Board election turnout of only around 5 percent, every single vote counts. Elect Nancy Goldberg on Nov. 8.
Katherine Maxwell
Culver City High School Class of 2011
UCLA Class of 2015
Didn’t She Teach Everyone?
From Brian Sonia-Wallace
Dear Editor,
I am writing in support of Nancy Goldberg's campaign for School Board.
Like what feels like half the population of Culver City, I was taught more than just English by Nancy Goldberg in high school.
I want to speak not to her experience, which speaks for itself, but for her incredible resilience and ability not only to adapt to change, but to make it work in her students’ favor.
In the classroom, Ms. Goldberg has an uncanny ability to find the seeds of creativity in even the most disruptive behavior. I'll never forget the day when, after I had been acting out in class, Ms. Goldberg took me aside and put a book into my hands.
“This is ‘The Great Gatsby’,” she told me, “And next month, if you're willing, I want you to teach it.” Two months later and years wiser, I returned to my seat with a new-found respect for literature, for how darned hard teaching is, and for myself.
Where another teacher would have sighed or shouted, time and again I watched Ms. Goldberg working with rather than against students, patiently steering them through their own interests to achievements they never would have imagined possible.
I have never had a teacher so conscious that children are people, too, nor so deft, subtle, and patient as Nancy Goldberg.
How does this translate to the School Board? First, Nancy Goldberg does not just understand students. She makes them. Second, I have faith that whatever the state of California can throw at her in these uncertain times, Ms. Goldberg will do her utmost to protect the interests of students and put their development center stage.
Finally, her empathy and talent for creating win-win situations will make her an invaluable team player, someone who gets things done and isn't afraid to forge consensus through debate. After all, the woman skillfully managed the hidden politics of almost 200 kids a day for 40 years. Just the words “School Board” terrify me. Ms Goldberg? She calls it her retirement.
Brian Sonia-Wallace
Culver City High School class of 2007
MA University of St Andrews, Scotland, 2011
Goldberg from a Different Perspective
From Sheila Silver
Culver City voters,
I spent a very short but tumultuous two years teaching at Culver City High School. The experience was Dickensian — both the best and worst of times. As a new teacher to the District navigating unfamiliar territory, the one consummate inspiration who showed that CCUSD was committed to high standards and excellence was my former colleague, Nancy Goldberg.
Nancy Goldberg led the English Dept. in creativity, tenacity and commitment to excellence. She inspired students to the highest levels of critical thinking, writing and a love of literature. When she spoke at faculty meetings, the staff was ardently attentive.
What I observed in Nancy Goldberg as a leader, expert educator and advocate for both students and teachers, places her in a category with only one other in my 35 years of teaching (Dr. Robyn Tunstall of the Orange Unified School District).
Nancy Goldberg and I shared many students in our courses, who would come into the theatre continuing animated and intelligent conversations from their AP English classes. When Nancy attended our productions (never missing a one in my two years), an electric excitement filled the cast and crew that the teacher they so loved and respected was in the audience.
Her mindful and insightful questions at department meetings would challenge the rest of us to assess why we teach what we teach and how we teach it.
I have wondered a number of times what might have transpired, let me retract, what might NOT have transpired had Nancy Goldberg been on the School Board when its current members, who have children in the District, took the first and second votes last February as to my employment.
Interestingly, they never stepped into my classrooms, never attended one of the theatre productions, never asked a single question as to the validity of the accusations about my work. One would think that as Board members, with or without children in the District, they might have had some interest in this much over -publicized debacle.
In August, while still under contract with CCUSD, these same Board members with children in the District, voted to oust me from my position as the Creative Director of Theatre, voted to hire a non-credentialed actor, whom I had trained as a teacher, and replace me in the AVPA.
Not one Board member nor District employee contacted me. In an act of kindness, my replacement was the one to tell me the truth, much to his horror when he learned that I was still on staff.
Only Nancy Goldberg, courageously stepped forward to learn the facts and the truth.
It is a false dilemma that because Nancy Goldberg does not currently have children in CCUSD schools, she does not have her finger on the pulse of the District.
Evidence shows that having children in the District did not ensure that the Board members make responsible decisions on behalf of the voters of this community.
Nancy Goldberg is tireless, courageous and will not kowtow to rumor rather than fact. She will also represent the District with integrity. She is the pulse of a District in need of ethical resuscitation.
Voters, do not hide behind false claims of ageism, petty jealousies and failure to seek the truth. You trusted her with your children for over 40 years. Why would anyone doubt her now?
