The School Board candidates were looser than any of them ever have been.
Vivacious high school and Middle School students were their typical sky-energy selves.
And the tasty blend was baked into an appealing showcase of entertainment last evening on the West Los Angeles College campus, providing a peek at what lies immediately ahead for Culver City schools and the five grownups who govern the School District.
The spirited, mainly kid audience — invited to the campus by the student current affairs organization Ask 2 Know — inspired the three candidates for two open Board seats to participate in an energetic peer-to-peer conversation.
If adults-only forums were based on this model, they would have to be shifted to the Coliseum to accommodate the turnout of Culver City voters.
Prof. Kelly Kent, and the team of Anne Burke and Scott McVarish performed, and informed, at their zenith.
In a positive way, it was as if the three of them climbed off the couch, hunkered down on the floor, and rhetorically romped with the students until all were worn down.
In a flashing neon sign of these steamy early autumn times, numerous students wanted to know when Dr. Kent, Mr. McVarish and Ms. Burke were going to mop their brows and do something about the perceived alarming lack of air conditioning in classrooms.
The $106 school improvement bond passed last year, which has played a starring role in all previous public appearances by the Board contenders, was relegated to such a distant seat on the bus it tumbled out the back door.
The students wanted, nay, begged – and later, at the urging of Mr. McVarish – old or new fangled kind of relief from the perspiring daily drumbeat of 90-degree weather.
Before the heat was turned up by the students, though, the stock opening question – what historic figure would you like to meet? – set an entertaining tone for the forum.
Mr. McVarish chose Abraham Lincoln for steering America onto a proper moral course at the most threatening juncture in the country’s history. Dr. Kent named Mark Twain because “he was really smart and really funny.” Ms. Burke selected Rosa Parks, wondering how and why a seemingly ordinary person could instantly, modestly, powerfully rise to iconic stature by planting her feet against Southern racism and refusing to surrender.
As for the beads of perspiration dampening classrooms across the District, once again each candidate delivered a response indicative of his or her stance throughout the campaign that ends on Nov. 3.
Ms. Burke, business type, said she has been speaking with District leaders about the problem and intends to travel to Sacramento to learn what the District can do to shrink the lengthy wait times for state approval.
Dr. Kent, teacher-philosopher-environmentalist, counseled that a creative, not emotionally traveled, solution is called for. Solar panels might be the answer, she said.
Mr. McVarish, attorney, said that “not having air conditioning is no longer an option. It’s too hot for too many weeks of the year. That significantly interferes with kids’ ability to stay focused and engaged. It also harms teachers in their work environment. Some schools already have central air, like parts of Lin Howe. Others don’t. Where we can afford central air we should do so. Where we can’t we need immediate window units that are low noise and energy efficient to save money. A/C units in every classroom is a health and safety priority.”