There was a time, not long ago, when our School Board was a board of action. Years of budget cuts necessitated CCUSD acting decisively. decisive. The last such Board limited class size, tightened requirements for remaining a permit student and laid plans to finally spend dollars that sat unused for over 15 years while cutting costs and increasing test scores. Alas for those days. When there was a lack of information from which to make a decision it was demanded and provided. A decision was made.
The Problem
[img]1789|right|Karlo Silbiger||no_popup[/img]Fast forward to our current School Board We find foot-dragging and indecision. Led by Karlo Silbiger, accompanied by Nancy Goldberg and assisted by Patricia Siever, little to nothing has been done. Longtime Board observers – I claim to be one – note that when issues come for a vote, unless Mr. Silbiger has sponsored it, he votes to put it to committee or delay until he has more information.
A smart, articulate man, it is understood he makes his calls based on political motivations wrapped in the mantle of open, transparent governance. Brilliant. Who can argue with open, transparent governance – unless it is to beguile the electorate, diffuse representative democracy, disregard proper stewardship and gather influence for political grooming.
Don’t get me wrong. Mr. Silbiger is a smart, affable young man. Yet even longtime schools advocate Madeline Ehrlich disavowed him soon after he took office. Let’s look at the two most recent incidences of his political behavior.
The Bond
By now it is well known that Mr. Silbiger orchestrated a rejection of placing a bond on the ballot during the summer, claiming he did not have enough information from which to move forward. Let’s consider this. When presented, he voted to spend $28,000 of District funds to engage a consultant to investigate whether a bond would likely succeed. (They concluded it would.)
Months went by. He had ample opportunity to ask for information and data, plans that he claimed he did not possess in sufficient quantity to move forward.
Why?
What was he doing?
Then he said he could not meet again until the next regularly convened School Board meeting. Yet he could attend all the Sister City Committee meetings and his other non-elected functions instead of meeting to hear the information he proclaimed he desired.
Does anybody really doubt that had Mr. Silbiger been in favor of the bond, Ms. Goldberg would have, too?
Back Maintenance
As the District identified facilities in need of greater repairs than they were capable of funding and accomplishing themselves this past summer, they identified a firm that could complete maintenance and repairs. The company had a rich history of doing so frugally and successfully with other districts.
Lone Dissenter
Time being short, it was presented to the School Board for approval. Both Ms. Goldberg and Prof. Siever independently recognized, along with Laura Chardiet and Kathy Paspalis, that the alternative was to allow students to return to potentially unsafe facilities. Mr. Silbiger alone voted no, claiming it should go to competitive bidding. This insured nothing would happen for a year. Yet all the information pertinent to the specific selection was open and transparent.
Another example of Mr. Silbiger’s politically motivated inaction was the brouhaha regarding the attempt by the Assn. of Classified Employees to unionize foreign language classroom aids at El Marino Language Immersion School after 25 years of running their programs. (This was a position Board candidate Claudia Vizcarra clearly supported as well. She so stated in multiple yahoo group emails.)
[img]2124|right|Claudia Vizcarra||no_popup[/img]Rather than championing the best interests of the students, Mr. Silbiger kept attempting to find a legal reason to back the union until Dr. Steve Levin (a Farragut Elementary parent) and other parents banded together. They crafted a solution embracing the whole District with Ms. Chardiet and Ms. Paspalis.
These examples show how this School Board – led by Mr. Silbiger and to the dismay of both Ms. Paspalis and Ms. Chardiet – repeatedly has delayed decisions, postponed action, left money on the table and failed to be stewards of our District with the children at the center of concern.
Let us also beware of Mr. Silbiger’s newest political ideologue, Claudia Vizcarra. At least twice at the Democratic Club forum, she answered questions with: “I agree with Karlo.”
Caveat emptor.
Or we will have a School Board only money can buy.
Mr. Elmont, a community activist and former Board candidate, may be contacted at aelmont@ca.rr.com
