Seventh in a series
Re “Karlo Hopes Teachers Union ‘Does More’ in Future Elections”
[img]493|right|Karlo Silbiger||no_popup[/img]To support his contention that the Teachers Union should be more active, as an organized, coherent team, in future School Board elections, Karlo Silbiger, the union’s showcase candidate in last month’s referendum, related a story.
“I had a couple of teachers, for example, who walked door-to-door for me,” he said. “They just volunteered to do that. They had incredible success. They were former students able to talk about what really is happening in the schools.
“If we can get teachers to see that more and more, it will be a valuable contribution to our community.”
Mr. Silbiger must have been thinking – multiple those two teachers by the 350 members of the union, or even multiply it by the 50 percent of the union roster that voted to ratify the new agreement with the School District.
If the Teachers Union had done that, Mr. Silbiger’s distant fourth-place outcome, one might figure, could have hopped him into first, second or even third place to retain his seat.
Instead, for the next two years, the onetime stentorian voice of the School Board will settle for being another member of a fairly faceless audience at the Tuesday night meetings.
The philosophical bent of the School Board is expected to change drastically – with new members Sue Robins and Dr. Steve Levin expected to agree with President Laura Chardiet and immediate past president Kathy Paspalis far more often than the late members Prof. Patricia Siever and Mr. Silbiger.
A question for Mr. Silbiger:
Would the outcome have been different if the Teachers Union had been as organized and aggressive as the still new United Parents of Culver City, who went undefeated, 3-0, in their first electoral sally?
Mr. Silbiger’s telling three-word response:
“I would imagine.”
(To be continued)
