On some Tuesday nights, he walks into School District headquarters on Irving Place throbbing with ideas, yearning for a robust dialogue with the designated policymakers.
But he goes home empty.
An Impediment
It is very difficult to engage the Board of Education in a dialogue, Mr. Maxwell says. The format they have does not lend itself to dialogue. They listen to you for three minutes. They may or may not comment on what was said. Often, they just sit there. That is very difficult.
Especially for an energetic, youth-centered retiree who has been thoroughly ensconced in the education of his two pre-high school daughters from the beginning.
Being retired, Mr. Maxwell has ample time daily to conduct extensive research and to engage Culver City grammar school students in mind-demanding exercises that push them to become scholars, to expand their universe of learning.
Talking It Over
During Supt. Dr. Myrna Rivera Cotes first months on the job since coming over from LAUSD, Mr. Maxwell has taken the initiative by arranging private meetings.
They have met in the spirit of lets-get-seriously-acquainted.
I have told her that I support her, he said, and that I have had my ear to the ground for issues that will be coming up, whether she knows about them or not.
Making an Issue
Mr. Maxwell began to enumerate those he believes should animate the community.
The immersion issue, he said, the kindergarten issue. There is a big issue about K-6, too. Moving the 6th grade from Middle School to the elementary schools. Not just one or two of them, but to all of the schools. This is what I hear by having my ear to the ground at focus meetings.
I support immersion in all aspects. It leads to greater understanding, and students benefit massively.
Lending a Hand
I want Dr. Cote to know about these subjects so she isnt blindsided the way she was on El Marino.
(In a brief but spectacular community-wide crisis late in the recent school term, El Marino Language School and two other schools were told a kindergarten class was going to be cut on each campus due to declining District enrollment. This, even though El Marino had a wait list. Following a flurry of protests and a storm of messages flooding the superintendents office, it was announced days later the problem had been settled when several factors unexpectedly intersected. Classes were restored.]
Of the community crisis that peaked and faded with blinding speed, Mr. Maxwell has a fascinating take.
Setting the Campaign Bar
If he speaks this bluntly during the campaign, it will be a lively 3 1/2 months.
I feel the Superintendent was not given information in a timely manner that would have precluded all of the hub-bub that happened, Mr. Maxwell said. From my counting, it took a whole two weeks after the big meeting at Linwood Howe for the issue to be resolved.
Static Figures
Mr. Maxwell sounded skeptical about the roots of the temporary elimination of kindergarten classes.
In my estimation, and according to the research I have done I did a lot during the nearly year and a half we were in Europe enrollment in the Culver City School District has averaged 6,804 for the last 7 or 8 years, he said.
This is almost identical to what the School District has been looking at.
Going Back to Memory
What does the candidate believe is going on?
I think Dr. Cote was not advised by history, Mr. Maxwell said. It pays to have institutional memory so that one knows what is going on in the community.
I think I have that, he said in his candidate mode.
I have had the same telephone number the last 20 years. I have really been involved in all school activities.
A Crisis? No
In his judgment, said Mr. Maxwell, there was no crisis. Dr. Cote does not have a history in Culver City. But I imagine she had the same (enrollment) numbers I have. She was concerned. Being a concerned administrator, she wanted to be prepared. She wanted to be cautious. She made an assumption based on wrong numbers, numbers that were not there at that time.
And again, all of a sudden, in two weeks those numbers appeared. To me, that indicates there was not an issue.
I have looked at enrollment figures as far back as I am able to obtain on the internet, and the numbers that are provided by the State Board of Education.
Sifting Through Data
In 1992 or 93, we had a student population of roughly 5,000. If you can picture a level field, a level graph, with x-y coordinates, the population of Culver City has remained static for about 37 years, just under 40,000. The number, the bottom line, is flat.
The number of students attending Culver City schools shows almost a 45-degree angle, going up each year. I see the influx (traceable to) the number of permit students. The number is now at an all-time high.
If you look at the numbers on 6th grade enrollment and 9th grade enrollment after the children graduate from elementary school and after junior high school there is a dramatic increase in numbers.
Discerning the Meaning
That shows me the Board of Education has had a policy of accepting large numbers of permit students. Two or three years ago, a big to-do made the papers about overcrowding in the Middle School.
A current parent group is concerned about immersion and the Middle School and the high school. The issues that made the papers said Culver City students were in temporary bungalows rather than in the classroom.
Now how all of that plays out and who you listen to determine what kind of answer you are going to get.
Interpreting Numbers
The numbers I have looked at indicate there is an ongoing sustained policy by the Board to increase the numbers in the schools. The numbers I talked about in that 45-degree graph would bear out what I have just said, from 5,000 to 6,800 over a decade and a half.
To what end? Mr. Maxwell was asked.
The steady increase creates more jobs, brings in more teachers, provides the School District with more money.
Yet the District still has money problems. Something like 84 to 87 percent of the budget is taken up every year by salaries. Used to be $18 to $20 million. Now its up to $44 million. So it has doubled, as has everything else.
The Main Event
A slightly different subject looks like the main target of Mr. Maxwells 100-day campaign.
In meetings throughout the spring with focus groups, Mr. Maxwell said the subject that kept coming up was K-6.
Many people I speak to not just El Marino are in love with their elementary school, he said. Farragut, Linwood Howe, La Ballona, El Rincon they all love their elementary schools. I have been retired for a number of years, and I really have involved myself in school activities.
How to Bottle Enthusiasm
What I see is elementary school kids coming to school, they are anxious and willing to learn, and they love their teachers. They are advancing in many ways, much more than when I was in school. They are probably 2, 3 years ahead of where I was. I ask myself, How can we continue that excitement for learning these children are showing?
K-6 is a giant step in that direction, Mr. Maxwell is convinced.
Up Next
In the next installment, Michael Eskridge of Culver City Flowers, a candidate in four previous elections, will discuss his views. Mr. Eskridge, who has a 2 and 2 record in Board elections, pulled his candidacy papers last Friday.
