Wouldn’t you know that on the leader’s last night on the School Board, the most toxic topic members have dealt with the last four years was at the tail of the agenda — which ended with an electrifying vote that climaxed with the cymbals clanging, the way all good melodramas should.
On this momentous evening in the teeming Council Chambers, the force was with Board President Scott Zeidman.
He got his way against a muscular opposing force that included an ambitious citizens group.
The deeply contentious matter of the four separate capital improvements projects — debated continuously, nearly daily, since July — finally was on its way.
Tugging in Separate Directions
Approved unanimously in two steps at the insistence of reluctant Board member Karlo Silbiger, the overall project was ratified first. In the second vote, a specific amount of funding was assigned to each of the plans.
“This is a victory for the students,” Mr. Zeidman declared afterward. “We now have the money identified that is going to go to each project. That was key.”
If a vote had been blocked last night and funding had not been allocated, he said, “there just would have been more discussions, more thought process, more back and forth. Nothing would ever get done.
“Now the money already is identified to go to each project. Unless the Board comes and says ‘no,’ the money is going to be spent.
“Naturally, if anything costs less than anticipated, and I expect most of it will cost less, they will need Board action to change it.
“But we needed to get moving, and finally it is — unless the Board acts.”
Here are the costs that were approved:
• Athletic fields renovation, $4,850,00 from CCUSD and $3,650,000 from a state Modernization Grant.
• Elevators, $400,000 from CCUSD and $600,000 from a state Modernization Grant.
• Robert Frost Auditorium, $2 million.
• Solar panels, $2.3 million from CCUSD and $2.3 from the AQMD. Note: If the latter grant fails to materialize, the Board agreed last night to try and find $1.5 million “somewhere” to boost the total allocation to $3.8 million.
The charismatic, persuasive Mr. Zeidman had fought off ferocious Board resistance, select citizen opposition and most of all a daunting deadline to get his way. Since he failed to win re-election on Nov. 8, it was vital to him that the two pivotal actions be passed on this night, and not put off until December, January or even later.
Later Is Better
Right up to the vote, Mr. Silbiger was aiming for a postponement. Because of a perceived lack of financial specificity with some of the projects, especially solar panels, he wanted to delay a vote until the new Board lineup was in place when he felt he would have a better chance of prevailing.
In the end, Mr. Silbiger, who may be the next President, seemed to go away happy, too, because a compromise agreement was reached to insure increased funding for the proposed solar panels, his favorite part.
“The value of the solar project is twofold,” Mr. Silbiger told the newspaper.
“It helps us to conserve energy and help protect the environment.
“It allows us to save a lot of money in energy costs, which come out of the general fund, which we can then spend on teachers, aides, arts programs, security, supplies, or anything else that we want to spend it on.
“Right now, it is slated to save us about $7 million to $9 million over the life of the system, not chump change.”
Mr. Zeidman, who may be called the godfather of this set of capital improvements — elevators in two schools, athletic complex upgrades, Robert Frost Auditorium renovations and solar panels for unidentified schools — has been conducting a several-front war to get the long simmering plans underway.
Long before his election upset, he was pursuing popular support to convert at least some of the four dimensions into immediate reality for several reasons:
• The seed money has been lying, untouched, in a vault for a decade or more;
• The quality of the athletic layouts and the Robert Frost was deteriorating;
• Elevators were required at the Middle School and Culver City High School to make the District compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act;
• And then there was the less imperative but white-hot subject of solar panels, which caused a huge stir and pushback among the energy activists across the community.
The high-wire dancing at the end of the meeting overshadowed an avalanche of farewells to Mr. Zeidman and his co-captain Steve Gourley. They will remain Board members for three weeks, until the next meeting, Tuesday, Dec. 13, when Nancy Goldberg and Laura Chardiet will be sworn in.
