Second in a series
Re “For Vizcarra, They Read Not Only from Same Book but Same Page”
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School Board candidate Claudia Vizcarra, second from right, will host a Bagels and Pan Dulce, on Sunday, from 11 until 12, at Syd Kronenthal Park, 6459 McManus St. Photo, Stephen Schwartz.
For Stephen Schwartz, School Board member of 1970s vintage, some decisions this season have been easy.
“After looking at the (seven) candidates running for the School Board, I determined that Claudia (Vizcarra) was one of the three I felt deserved to be on the Board,” he said.
“One reason is, she has a philosophy similar to me.
“She is able to communicate, and she understands what the School District needs. She will deal with the students and the parents of the District in a forthright, honest manner.”
Drawing on a long life, Mr. Schwartz, a pillar of the Raintree residential community, brings numerous perspectives to his decision-making.
“I started off as a member of the construction industry,” he says. “I was a member of the Sheet Metal Workers union when I was elected to the School Board. Then I went into retail sales and managed stores for people for a number of years. My final occupation was that of property managers for condominiums.”
In that case, in Mr. Schwartz’s opinion, as a non-educator, how critical is it for the School Board to include persons not directly involved in education?
“It is important Board members Have a passion for education, whether or not they are members of the education profession.”
Turn Your Tongue Left and Right
The next person for a reporter to approach at a recent event for Ms. Vizcarra was the activist Michelle WEE-ner. Or is it WY-ner?
The latter pronunciation is correct, however she may be addressed. At least the spelling remains stable, W-e-i-n-e-r.
Short of hanging around her, how is a visitor supposed to remember WY-ner from WEE-ner?
Especially when the visitor, whose tape recorder spelled poorly, said, “That is W-i-e-n-e-r, right?”
“No,” Ms. W. corrected. “It was i-e, but who knows what it was in the Old Country?”
She said that what began decades ago as W-i-e-n-e-r prevailed until “My dad got tired of being teased and being called WEE-ner. So he changed the spelling to W-e-i-n-e-r.”
It didn’t work. Nobody noticed the difference.
“My dad still got teased. So did I.”
Ms. WEE-ner, who sometimes is Ms. WY-ner, laughed. She said she is going to change her name back to what it was in the Old Country, W-a-j-n-e-v, pronounced gutturally as WHAJ-nev, which means buggy driver.
Nearly everyone would rather be a buggy driver than a hot dog, yes?
(To be continued)
