Most political candidates could awaken from a sound winter’s nap and within 19 seconds reel off the 25 most pertinent reasons you should cast your ballot for him or her.
Nancy Goldberg, one of the most popular figures in Culver City history, is distant from most political candidates. She is flatly disinclined to talk about herself.
To the question, Where do you most profoundly disagree with your rivals?, Ms. Goldberg demurred. She said she wanted to talk about the issues.
When was the last time your heard an office-seeker give a typically Goldbergian response?
“I will talk about the Natatorium or issues that any one of us can have a different opinion on, or any one of us might be right.”
Question: But don’t you believe that if people vote for Mr. Zeidman or Ms. Chardiet, they will not be getting as good of a bargain as if they had voted for you, right?
“I don’t think that way,” Ms. Goldberg said. “Honestly, if you go around and ask people where I have been dropping off materials, I always say to them, ‘You have a wonderful range of choice. This is one of the best fields we ever have had.’
“The [personal] questions you were asking do not resonate with me.
“You can put that in,” she said with a lilt and a light laugh in her voice, “and make sure you give me a B grade this time.” [The newspaper assessed an appearance of Ms. Goldberg at a candidates forum about a month ago as a B-minus.]
When her visitor pledged an A-plus, Ms. Goldberg parried , “I am going to be a B-minus to you whatever I do.”
What makes you different from your opponents?
“I don’t think there is that big of a difference. I think all three of us — five of us, actually — try…”
She pivoted quickly to be sure her two so-called second-tier opponents were not demeaned. “They are in everything,” she said. “They have views, and they are not to be just dismissed. I was an equity teacher for years. This means that people come in at a different level. You can’t be sure they know everything. What you do is bring them along. Pretty soon, if you have faith in them and give them the right guidance and background materials to catch up on, they are fine.
“Anybody who goes on the School Board with a clear heart and a lot of kindness in their soul definitely will find they have a lot more potential to give than someone who goes in with rancor and judgment.”
As the No.1 classroom teacher in community history, Ms. Goldberg brings the air of a wild card to next Tuesday’s School Board election for two seats. In ordinary years, candidates are compared by their stances on issues and their personalities.
Ms. Goldberg is so deeply beloved across the community that it seems impossible to gauge her chances against Laura Chardiet, Scott Zeidman, Gary Abrams and Robert Zirgulis.
“I am hoping that I can bring a modicum of humility, cooperation and consideration for the students, first, and my Board members second,” she said recently.
Without warning or fanfare, she had captured herself more accurately than if she had been surrounded by 10 world-class photographers
Humble she undoubtedly is. Kind and considerate and cooperative — everybody says so. She is equally adored by students, their parents and grownups who only have heard about her. That is the truncated equation that tilts Tuesday’s voting in an unknowable direction. After 41 years in the classrooms of Culver City High School, there lives not a Culver City soul who dares believe that students are not No. 1 in her mind. The order behind No. 1 matters much less.
(To be continued)
