If Opening Night of the candidate forum season is a reliable predictor for Election Day next month, the seven-layered School Board race will end so snugly the whole field will be panting at the finish line.
Four of the seven contenders for three Board seats are making their maiden voyage in politics.
Dr. Steve Levin, Claudia Vizcarra, Vernon Taylor and Sue Robins proved as roundly informed and forward thinking as Board incumbents Kathy Paspalis and Karlo Silbiger, and third-time contender Robert Zirgulis.
Their next chance to impress the community comes tomorrow evening:
At 7 in Council Chambers, the League of Women Voters will sponsor a candidates forum.
With a large crowd filing in for the Culver Crest Homeowners Assn. forum last evening in the cafetorium of El Rincon Elementary, the rookies were indistinguishable from the supposedly grizzled ones.
No one committed scoldable gaffes. The downside is, neither did anyone manage to stick his or her head above the field, meaning they were seven guys named Joe.
Typically at this early stage, first-timers exude schoolboy nervousness, shakily read their scripts, are unsure when to look down or up, and would love to reel back in several statements that accidentally spilled out in flashes of unguarded exuberance.
In the midst of a community-wide debate over deteriorating school facilities, a thorny, potentially trapping, question posed by moderator Ron Ostrin was which facilities and conditions should be prioritized. Almost in unison, the seven said “health and safety” must be the primary concerns, with the precise sites to be decided later.
Here is one perspective, judging style as much as content:
Dr. Steve Levin – The cerebral 54-year-old astrophysicist from JPL has spent too many years in classrooms to evince any unsteadiness before critical crowds, even if, as an orator, he may not be remembered as a Daniel Webster or Barack Obama incarnation. After a quarter-century of closely working on outer space projects, he is the celebrity in the race. Arguably, he brings more unique, useful tools to his campaign than others. There is a feeling of star when he walks in.
A history of serious volunteering has been a pillar of his platform. A father of three school-agers, he seeks to dip into the community and attract more volunteers, intensifying involvement. Talking about the impending introduction of Common Core next year and comprehensive education, he said “we should prepare kids for life, not just tests.” Like others in trouble fiscal times for the School District, he accented his experience working with large budgets.
Kathy Paspalis – The President of the School Board is running on her record, which, she says, has been highlighted by exercising fiscal prudence the last four years. The mother of 14-year-old twins and the first in her East Coast family to graduate college, noting that she went on to earn a J.D., the land use/environmental attorney works for a non-profit firm. All of those markings help to identify her philosophy of life and support her assertion that she first was elected four years ago, largely because “I think out of the box.” Supporters say she is a rarity on recent School Boards – she vigorously advocates for all schools in the District. Several times she touted last year’s Board hiring of Supt. Dave LaRose as a major difference-maker in the District climate.
Claudia Vizcarra – Like three of her rivals, oratory is not her strength, and an audience must closely hear what she is saying. In the midst of a multi-dimensional career, the mother of two students said that 10 years of working in the educational policy field broadly prepares her for solving the fiscal and policy and personnel puzzles that will be presented to the Board that takes office in December. He stressed her commitment to bonds – the measure sometimes angrily batted around last summer and a parcel tax – as tickets to the District’s desired destinations.
Sue Robins – The business owner and former teacher may have been the most impressive presenter, for both natural and personal reasons. Unlike some of her colleagues, the tallest member of the field stood every time she spoke. This exuded a commanding presence no one else could match. She spoke with a solidity and sense of confidence born of years in pubic speaking. To complete a matching set, she declares, she doesn’t inquire or wonder. Her ideas were common sense. “This election is about leadership,” she said at the outset. Sporting degrees in business and education, she has divided her professional years between those two areas – currently teaching at U.C. Irvine – and she has taken a leading role, through the Chamber of Commerce with bringing business owners to classrooms, the better to expand the horizons of students.
Karlo Silbiger – The farther he moves away from his own starting age of 11, the less he mentions those precocious years. But whenever the balding, 30ish educator stands to speak, if you never have heard him, immediately he connotes a powerful sense of knowledge, depth, strategy and tactics, and confidence in himself to make the right call in a room where self-esteem, is rife.
Vernon Taylor – The most invisible of candidates for the past month, he generously compensated this time by delivering a sterling A-plus performance. Especially for one who allegedly appeared little known in August when the race began – despite an enviable record of being involved in more school-level activities than perhaps all candidates combined – he not only commands every notable issue, he brings sui generis financial experience. Twenty-five years in banking and finance, credentials superior to any candidate in recent years, along with a gleaming talent for oratory, should carry him effectively to Nov. 5.
Robert Zirgulis – His challenge, after two previous runs, is to present a fresh side to voters. A middling speaker, he endeavored to do that by reintroducing his family background, his Lithuanian parents escaped the Holocaust, and he is a child of the ‘60s, two explanations perhaps for His stentorian and sometimes lonely espousal of reopening the Natatorium. to his credit, he addressed other topics, but they all led back to what he calls the school pool. Homespun presentations and undoubted sincerity probably are his two most persuasive cards.
