Five Minutes: School Board Candidate Gary Abrams

Candidate Gary Abrams realizes his chances of winning a seat on the school board aren’t very good, but he said his love of children, the encouragement he's received from teachers and his concern about what he calls “trickery” regarding where district money is spent now, compelled him to enter the race anyway. 

Abrams, a former R.N. who owns Westside Quality Care Manor and a nursing registry service, first became interested in school politics when his children were attending St. Augustine’s Catholic School, where he was elected PTA president. Later, he enrolled his younger children in Culver City public schools and started volunteering in the classroom several hours each day because he believed he could do the most good there. He has received a “Volunteer of the Year” award from Linwood Howe Elementary and since then, several of the teachers he has volunteered for have encouraged him to run for school board.

Culver City Patch sat down with Abrams to get his take on key issues and what qualities he believes he would bring to the school board.

Culver City Patch: You have some older children. Were you interested in running for the school board previously?

Gary Abrams: No, I don’t like politics. There’s too much trickery going on. I don’t want to call it lying, but it is lying. I know politicians, they are doing what they have to do because the pressures on them to survive. They may start with good intentions, but that money starts corrupting them.

Patch: Do you have any significant endorsements?

Abrams: No, I don’t, and I don’t ask for any. I ask for the endorsement of the voters because these groups can be had. I think they are legitimately looking for a savior. They are basically looking to keep their days from getting cut and that’s the union’s position and I understand that. That’s their job to look out for their members. So, when we had our little interviews they asked me how will I stop the cuts and everything falls on salaries because that’s where the money goes. Every day their days are taken, that’s days taken from the students but nobody is focusing up on that.

Patch: Why do you want to be on the school board now?

Abrams: Because my main focus is money. We need money. To implement these programs they are cutting, you need money and nobody is following where the money is going or how to get more money in.

Patch: What are your ideas to get more money in?

Abrams: I’m going to explain them to you. A lot of money is going to consultants under a lot of different names. They call them purchase fees—service contracts, retainer contracts, etc. They are lawyers' fees mainly to fight the battles of the school district against its own people. Like the disabled kids. They do like the Morse code thing and if you don’t know the code, you can’t break it.

Patch: Do you believe that you could change some of these behaviors?

Abrams: No, but people will listen to you more. As an individual I can get up there and gripe or complain and all they do is shut up. What happens when you keep saying the same thing over and over? Like the guy with the megaphone who says the end of the world is coming.  People just look at you like you’re crazy and don’t listen anymore. They know that you can’t keep coming back as an individual saying the same thing and be taken seriously. But as a public official, I can say something once and somebody is going to have to address that. That’s why I want to be on the school board so there’s some accountability.

Patch: What are the biggest problems you have with the current school board?

Abrams: It’s not the current one. It’s all the ones before that too. They don’t really do anything. It’s all the posturing. They come in, promising you they are going to do this and this, but they never do. They come up with nothing. The property of the district is just like the city’s property. They are negligent. Look at all that rust on that pole up there [he points to the pillars outside City Hall]. They let everything deteriorate.

Patch: You don’t think that’s because they are out of money?

Abrams: They are always out of something, but this has been before this budget crisis. You think they are out of money? They have funding all over the place. They don’t even paint. This is what they do, Culver City style. They build something and then no maintenance. Then the City Hall will tear it down because it’s old, but it’s because they didn’t take care of it. Nobody is paying attention to those things.

Patch: So what would you do to change these things?

Abrams: I would look at money. I don’t know if I could change anything, but money makes changes. They’ve put more and more money burden on the parents and that gets old. We keep accepting this and that’s what I said at the [Culver City] Democratic Club meeting, so I was labeled as the angry black man. I was real angry.

Patch: You have identified a lot of issues, but what would you do to make changes? 

Abrams: I come from Newark, N.J., one of the most corrupt cities in the country, so I understand corruption. They had the Mafia. My stepfather was a policeman, so I know all about corruption. I smell it here, but that’s just how cities are. I’m not saying I can solve all issues, but I’m just saying there is money. I wrote some articles on theFrontpageonline.com and that’s where you get your real news about Culver City. This is the KPFK of the online news sites.

Patch: What are some of the programs you would like to see implemented? 

Abrams: The volunteer thing. This is so important that the parents volunteer. The teachers are too busy to really correct the papers. I did that as a volunteer and I formatted a letter to send to the parents, so they knew the kids weren’t doing the homework. I did this independently. That was help because the teacher could notice who was paying attention. If you really want to save money then get in there and volunteer an hour a day. And music and art programs they keep cutting. I would look into that.

Patch: How would you get the money to work on those issues?

Abrams: Well, you see we are back to the money again. We have to follow the money. If they say they need to spend $15 million it will be $30 million. What surprises me most is how gullible people are to believe there’s no money. They could come up with the money.

Patch: What would be your first order of business?

Abrams: It’s a collective thing. What puzzles me about running for the school board is they want each candidate to have solutions to things they can’t possibly solve. You’re going to be inexperienced with some things. I would like to see some Ph.D.s in the school.

Patch: Why don’t you want to have a committee or put out signs?

Abrams: That’s a good question. Maybe because I don’t want to impose on anybody. I was surprised I got 500 votes last time and I didn’t get interviewed or talk to anybody.

Patch: Do you think you would have trouble getting them to help if you asked?

Abrams: No, because teachers and parents ask me if I’m running. I’m against using signs. I’m trying to bring us to the electronic age and it doesn’t cost anything. The problem is how do people find it? But at these forums, you get three minutes to introduce yourself and answer stupid questions.

Patch: Isn’t it whose name they see the most?

Abrams: Yes, but that’s an ignorant way to do politics. That’s how money controls politics, if you don’t have the money to put up 5,000 signs. I’m not spending $20,000 of my money. I make $50 per hour. These other guys are making $200,000 per year. People can go on Smartvoters.org and learn all about me and the other candidates.

Patch: Do you wish people were more involved in the process?

Abrams: The other side doesn’t want that because unless you have financial backing you have to pay for it all yourself. I’d rather give the money directly to the school.

Patch: What is your biggest accusation against the board now?

Abrams: Being stupid. They don’t fight for the schools. They just allow the city to run away with all this money and never sit down and talk. The only thing they get is the City Hall once a month for meetings.

Culver City Patch: Why do you think that is?

Abrams: Fear. They don’t have any courage.

Patch: Anything else you want to tell us?

Abrams: I’d like to see a level playing field so that it doesn’t cost us so much to run. I’m not trying to take their jobs. I don’t really want to do it, but I see where it’s heading, so I feel like I have to run and I’ll keep running. I don’t do well in the forums because it's one minute, but I never have enough time. I have too much stuff in my brain.

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