[See details on final election results below.]
Unexpectedly, President Scott Zeidman, the main pulse of the School Board the past four years, will bid farewell to his colleagues throughout tonight’s 7 o’clock last-meeting-of-the-cycle in Council Chambers.
Mr. Zeidman, the main and ubiquitous face of the School Board throughout his term, was upset in the election two weeks ago, placing behind Nancy Goldberg and Laura Chardiet, who join the Board last month.
Nearly obscured in the excitement, debating and disappointment of the election results is tonight’s equally formidable (voluntary) departure of Mr. Zeidman’s closest teammate, Steve Gourley. He is the 1990s City Councilman who made a surprising comeback in public life four years ago only to find himself too disillusioned to try for a second term.
Together, Mr. Gourley and Mr. Zeidman romped across the educational landscape in a cloud of dust. They created more interest in School Board life than had been seen for years.
They outlawed dull meetings. Like an unrelenting two-tiered hurricane, they roared through policy documents and engineered red-meat changes that will endure.
Mr. Zeidman still was preparing his final remarks this morning, but he is expected to dwell on his friendship with Mr. Gourley, that began when they arrived at the Board.
“I believe I have been an effective School Board member,” Mr. Zeidman said. “I believe I did what I promised four years ago. I believe the District is better today than it was four years ago, partially because of the work I did.
“I may be wrong but that is my belief.
“I could not have done anything without Gourley. He fought what needed to be fought for. He was my wingman, he was my protector, he was everything I needed. So while he is taking all the criticism, and it is deserved because he kind of went off the deep end the last 18 months, we never would have gotten the parcel tax without Gourley’s support.
“We never would have gotten Patti Jaffe as Superintendent without Gourley’s support. We never would have gotten the cap on enrollment without Gourley’s support. We never would have gotten the anti-bulling task force without Gourley’s support.
“The biggest things we have done, partially because of Gourley.”
Through the emotion of the double departure of the two biggest guns on the School; Board, the election a fortnight ago remains the talk of the town going into the holiday.
Below are ace data researcher George Laase’s final compilations:
[img]1288|left|11-08-2011 CCUSD BOARD ELECTION.PDF||no_popup[/img]
