[Editor’s Note: At last night’s School Borad meeting, former Board President Mr. Zeidman, casually attired in a vivid scarlet polo shirt, paid tribute to Culver City High School Athletic Director Jerry Chabola, who is retiring from teaching (U.S. government and economics) next Tuesday. He will remain on as A.D.]
It’s great to be here. I’ve got to tell you, the dress code on this side of the podium is much better than on your side.
I was saddened to see on [agenda] item 9.4 that Jerry Chabola was retiring.
Jerry was a three-sport athlete at St. Mary’s College. Before coming to our District, Jerry taught for 12 years at various high schools. In addition to teaching at those schools, Jerry also coached baseball, basketball and football, and even found time to work as an usher at Dodger Stadium.
Jerry began teaching in our District in 1990. While teaching, he found time to coach football, baseball and girls soccer, establish the Culver City National Girls Softball League, act as the president of the Culver City National Little League, coach Babe Ruth baseball, and establish the CCHS Booster Club, which has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for our high school. He’s also been a Culver City Parks and Recreation Commissioner, worked with CCHS Big Buddies, co-founded Vanguard, and presented the “Every Fifteen Minutes” event, cautioning students not to drink and drive. Jerry’s been our Athletic Director since 1994.
In the twenty-plus years Jerry’s been at Culver City High School, he’s positively affected the lives of more than 15,000 students.
Every meeting, we hear the mantra, “It’s all about the students.”
Sadly, that mantra isn’t always true. It’s often not about the students, but rather it’s about the speaker, or about the special interest that the speaker is championing.
With Jerry, it truly always, always, is about the students, and enhancing the students’ school experience.
If you’ve ever been to any high school athletic event, there’s a good chance you sat next to, or walked by, Jerry. He’s at virtually all of them, both home and away. If you’ve been to an Education Foundation event, he’s there. If you’ve attended any high school event, athletics or otherwise, odds are that Jerry was there.
If you go to the high school early, Jerry is there. If you come by the high school at night, there he is. I often wondered why he bothered to have a house. He lives at the high school, and he lives for our students.
We pay teachers $35 an hour for additional assignments. My gosh, last year we paid a teacher $35 an hour to watch his own daughter graduate from high school.
If we paid Jerry $35 an hour for his extra work, well, Ali [Delawalla, Asst. Supt./Business], you’d need a new calculator. At $35 an hour, he and Janet could have retired to the French Riviera years ago.
Over the years, we’ve lost a great many teachers. The losses are always dramatic. This loss, I fear, will be devastating, not only today, but in the years to come. I’m saddened that my two boys will not have the pleasure of being taught by Jerry Chabola.
I urge you to vote “no” on 9.4 III, and tell Jerry to come back ten years from now and perhaps then you will consider allowing him to retire.
Mr. Zeidman may be contacted at scott.zeidman@laslots.com
