[img]1261|left|Laura Chardiet||no_popup[/img]From Laura Chardiet’s chair in the southwest corner of the spacious living room of the hilltop home of former City Treasurer Crystal Alexander yesterday afternoon, she could gaze to her right and see much of Culver City.
Whether she could foresee herself winning one of the two School Board seats at stake in the Nov. 8 election remained an unasked question.
Ms. Chardiet was even perkier than usual because she just had received the news that she was one of the two candidates endorsed by the Chamber of Commerce, which never has outrightly backed school candidates.
“It is very important,” she said, “because I am the only candidate endorsed by business and labor.”
Ms. Chardiet previously received endorsements from the Committee on Political Education (COPE), American Federation of Labor, the Culver City Federation of Teachers and the California Federation of Teachers.
The message, she said, “is that I appeal to a broad base of voters, a broad base of interests, and it means I am a good candidate,” and threw her head back and laughed with vigor.
“If you look at my professional experience, you will see I have been a teacher in the classroom, I have been a member of UTLA (the LAUSD teachers union) for 14 years, and I recently became an administrator.
“So I understand both aspects of education.
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“Obviously, I am somebody who likes to work to get things done, and my record shows that (with her organized activism at La Ballona School and with the PTA Council). I can work with anyone.”
A leader wherever she has gone, Ms. Chardiet sounded like someone who means to establish order if she wins next month.
“I am the kind of person who feels we need to establish what our goals are, establish what our vision is, and then figure out how to make that happen.”
Order, she said, is crucial.
“It is important we come together as a community and decide what is important to us and what do we want to get done,” Ms. Chardiet said.
“For example, if solar panels are important to us and we know they will benefit us, then how do we get that done.
“I don’t think it’s a matter of choosing one capital improvement project over another.
“This is what we want to do, and this is what we are going to make happen. “
Ms. Chardiet is not concerned about adjusting to a community talking back to her if she is on the Board.
“(As a PTA executive), I have spent the last 10 years listening to parents and talking to parents about issues regarding their children’s education. I have been an educator, professionally, for the last 20 years.
“I have a very good understanding of how the system works and how to make change.”
