[img]1789|right|Karlo Silbiger||no_popup[/img]Karlo Silbiger still was in his 20s four years ago when he became the youngest person ever elected to the School Board.
Balding for more than a decade, the surviving hair hardly has melted into gray. Rather, Mr. Silbiger would like to think that the accumulated wisdom is reflected in the depth and insightfulness that frame his responses to the school community’s issues.
Much of his brief, fast-paced life, he has been the junior person in the room.
“When I first came to the Board,” he said, “I felt a little patronizing from some people. Some people would say, ‘Oh, there is The Kid. He will learn. He will come along. Let me teach you.’
“I think that stopped pretty quickly. People realized I knew what I was talking about. In many ways, I had more knowledge than many of the other people in the room, especially since we have gotten new staff, new to the District. Some of the former staff were teachers when I was in school, and that made for a different relationship.
“I see (the age difference) as a big plus because I think I am able to understand the culture of the schools, which is not that different than when I was a student.
“My entire life being in schools (as a teacher now approaching his doctorate) gives me a knowledge level others on the Board don’t have.”
Never shy of confidence, Mr. Silbiger hoped it was the strength of his pronouncements that proved he was qualified to judgment despite the deceiving greenness of his years.
“My temperament has changed little,” he said. “I try to come in fully prepared and to work as collaboratively as I can.”
Since his teen years when he operated in the shadow of his parents, former School Board member Barbara Honig and former City Councilman Gary Silbiger, Karlo Silbiger proudly has worn his reputation as a mature thinker following an unquestioned political trail.
Politics, as has been often noted, has been his life since he was an adultish 11 years old – no hyperbole.
“One area where I have changed,” Mr. Silbiger said, “is being all right with things taking a little longer. There was some impatience on my part when I first got there. The biggest change I have made is understanding the (necessary) timeline and being okay with it.
