For the next four weeks, though, the klieg lights will be on Daddy who is in a five-way race for the School Board seats of Stew Bubar and Marla Wolkowitz, who are stepping away after long service.

Wiry, medium tall and slender, Mr. Zeidman looks and acts like what his reputation says he is, a high-achieving, strongly determined, difficult-to-discourage person who is well-read, knows the rules and plays by them.

Sitting for an interview that would swing open the gate on the stretch run for his first School Board campaign, Mr. Zeidman, around the edges, appeared slightly nervous at first.

But the raw grit that has carried him from the modest streets of Culver City to a command position along more glamourous byways across the world served him once again. He summoned a reserve of grit, and it responded.

Locking onto a steady gaze into his interrogator, and never letting his eyes stray right or left, he was downright engaging as he surveyed the state of the School District, then and now, identified potential remedies and then raised a window shade on the personal dimension of life.

Returning to Yesterday

A 1980 graduate of Culver City High School, Mr. Zeidman says he remembers well what the School District was like a quarter-century ago. “I am a product of our system,” he says. “I have seen what it was like. I see what it is today. And I know we can get back to what we used to be.”

He hearkened back to the way it was when he was a schoolboy. “In 1980, the high school was smaller, only the 10th through 12th grade. Junior High School was seventh to ninth grade, and we had fewer students than they have today in the Middle School. We also had fewer students in the high school than we have today.

“We had significant community involvement — parents, residents, everybody seemed to be involved. Today we have more kids. We are educating kids from outside our District, which we didn’t do in the past, and the community doesn’t seem to have the involvement there used to be. Of course, there are exceptions.

Identifying the Benefits

“When I go knocking on doors and people tell me, ‘I don’t have any children in the District,’ I don’t blame them for not being involved. I tell them this is our community. I tell homeowners, the better the School District, the better are our property values.

“Residents have a vested interest in our School District. They may not have children in the District, and they don’t need to volunteer. But they should be aware of the District and support our schools.”

Plainly, the prospect of non-Culver City students attending Culver City schools was an issue nipping at Mr. Zeidman’s heels.

“I have feelings about permits,” he said. “We have a chicken-and-egg problem. Mnay of our children are not attending our schools. They don’t for many different reasons. Some families want a private education for their children. You can’t blame anybody for wanting that. It’s their prerogative.

“As I have been knocking on doors, people are telling me they are afraid of the Middle School. They don’t like the Middle School. They think it is too crowded. They don’t believe it is safe to provide a good learning environment. They have many different thoughts about the Middle School and the high school. I am not saying any of this is so. It is what I am hearing.

“”We are educating hundreds of kids from outside of our District, and our own kids are leaving the District. I can’t tell you whether these two facts are connected because they can’t tell me.

What Happens After Fifth Grade?

“What’s strange is, our five elementary schools are fantastic. Again I am talking perception. Everyone thinks they are great. If all those students in elementary schools went to the Middle School, you would think we would still be great.

“But for some reason, from fifth grade to sixth grade, parents are concerned. Why do we go from loving our fifth grade classes to, potentially, not loving our sixth grade classes? We are having more permit kids coming in. Could it be if we limited the permits that we could get some of our kids back? Not right away, but….

“How do we convince our sixth-grade parents that our school system is as great as it is? Do not misunderstand. I am not saying the Middle School is bad. That is the perception.”

Mr. Zeidman, since the School District says there is a direct link between the number of permits and the fiscal health of the District, what would your solution be?

“No question that you can’t cut permits and keep the same amount of money,” he said. “We have to make a tough decision: Do we want to continue to educate our kids and a whole lot of other kids? Or do we want to make minor cuts and slowly start to educate more of our kids and fewer outside kids?

“Now permits are conditional. Students have to be released from their own schools first. From what I understand, Inglewood is starting to slow down the releasing process because they need to hold their own kids. What happens if and when Los Angeles Unified says, ‘Culver City, I am sorry. We are going to cut back on our releasing of permits.’

“We have approximately 1500 permits right now. I can’t get an exact number. What happens if Los Angeles decides they’re going to cut (permits) by 30 percent? We are 500 kids short. Now what do we do?”

What is the answer, Mr. Zeidman?

“There is no answer because we are relying on permits.”

Do you have a plan for gradually reducing the number of permits?

“We can’t cut permits tomorrow,” Mr. Zeidman said. “But we can’t continue to have approximately 1500 permits. First, we have to look at the permits going to the high school. If we could slowly limit the number of permits for the high school and for the Middle School, we would become less dependent on permits.

“Unfortunately, this would also bring a decrease in funding. But we can’t expect the funding to be coming in forever, and then find out one day it is shut off.”

(To be continued)