Second of three parts
Re “Culver City Has Made Incredible Strides — K. Silbiger”
As long as he raised the subject last month in his acceptance speech as the top votegetter in the School Board election, newly minted Karlo Silbiger was asked if gay students in Culver City have been under-represented, misrepresented or misunderstood in the past when there were no matching members on the Board?
“Not at all,” he said.
“In fact, Culver City has a well-deserved reputation, Culver City High School in particular, for being one of the most open schools from the very beginning.
“I believe Culver High had the first, or one of the first, organized groups. They didn’t call it a gay-straight alliance. They called it Tolerance at the time. The name has been , changed numerous times.
“I think it was started 25 years ago. It was an incredible movement, way ahead of its time. It continues today.
“What is amazing about it is how different it was then from now. I have spoken with some of the faculty leaders. They’ve told me when it first started, they had to hold it in secret. Not that the School District didn’t know about it. But they had to protect the identities of students in the group.
“So they would have no records. It wasn’t an official student group, like listed with pictures in the yearbook.
“Now, of course, it is different.”
Mr. Silbiger is the faculty advisor for the gay students’ club at his present school, “and I have been at almost every school where I have taught.”
Taking the Lead — or Not?
If you think that subject was sensitive, try the next one:
Mr. Silbiger, technically a young man at 27 years old, will be very much on display Tuesday night at 6 at Lin Howe School when he and the other two new members of the School Board, Kathy Paspalis and Prof. Pat Siever, officially are sworn in.
The chemistry, the dynamics when the freshmen are brought together for the first time with holdover members Scott Zeidman and Steve Gourley should be fascinating to study.
When Mr. Gourley and Mr. Zeidman were elected two Novembers ago, they charged into the School District headquarters and infused it with the kind of bristling energy highly motivated newcomers can bring to a panel that, some said, had wavered between a little passive and a little lethargic.
Together for 6 years, familiarity will do that.
Mr. Gourley and Mr. Zeidman turned up the lights, flipped the music volume to Pretty Loud, and instantly began forcefully, effectively, and acceptably, asserting themselves.
Comes now Mr. Silbiger who has been a leader almost everywhere he has served.
How will he fit in?
That is the subject of the concluding part of this series.
(To be continued)
