Anger at School Board Over Closed Session Discussions About ACE

Tensions mounted at Tuesday night’s meeting when parents and teachers showed up to protest a closed session the board held earlier in the evening with its labor negotiating team regarding the Association of Classified Employees' 'Demand to Bargain' letter.

, parent Jeannine Wisnosky Stehlin presented a petition to the board with 969 signatures from parents backing parent-funded volunteers in the schools. On Tuesday night she once again presented the petition, with the numbers now standing at over 1,600. Those signatures came from parents at all schools in the district,  “because they know how important parent-funded programs are,” she said.

She and other parents and teachers urged the board to tell the district not to negotiate with unions with some referring to the negotiations as “illegal.”

“As you can tell, [ACE's] proposal has stirred up a hornet’s nest of resentment amongst parents,” said Steve Bunbaugh, the parent of two elementary school children. “Any board member who believes that the parents here tonight represent a vocal minority is operating under an illusion. So to be blunt, any board member who approves ACE’s proposal will face one of two certainties: he or she will be defeated when they are up for re-election, or more likely they will be recalled from office.”

However, Roberta Sargent, a teacher at El Marino Language School, made an appeal for civility.

“I’d like us all to step back and treat each other respectfully,” Sargent said. “We can’t bully our board. We have to convince them.”

Although the board announced no action was taken during the closed session, some board members took issue with the way they were being addressed.

“I really don’t like being bullied,” said Board Member Patricia Siever. “My [African American] people have been bullied for centuries. I really don’t like it. I’m working for equity for all of our students. I treat you with respect, and I expect it in return.”

Board Member Nancy Goldberg agreed.

“These things seem so mundane because the heat of argument prevails,” Goldberg said. “I have to confess [to feeling] a certain sense of bullying.”

Board Member Laura Chardiet said as a former parent leader in Culver City schools, she feels she has an advantage over the other board members regarding the issue, which she described as “a pebble in my shoe for the past eight years.

“In Culver City, it’s really up to us to circle the wagons and decide to create our own funding stream, and I think we have definitely done that,” Chardiet said. “We did that with Measure EE and our parents. The parents raise money and it’s a major funding stream.”

She said given that Measure EE came with requirements as to how the money would be used, "I really don’t blame parents for wanting to attach requirements to the funding stream that they’re creating."

She encouraged parents to stay engaged in the discussions, “to work out a policy that’s going to work for everyone for a long, long time.”

Board member Kathy Paspalis said, "People need to understand the union can file grievances" but she agreed it was good to have parents involved in the process while also appealing for patience.

Board President Karlo Silbiger said, "I'm of the opinion when things are being negotiated, we have an obligation to allow that to happen."

Tom Crunk defended Board Member Laura Chardiet's request to change Board Policy 1240, which she introduced at a board meeting two weeks ago to address her concerns about parent-funded volunteer programs. Crunk called a press release "misleading, incorrect, and disturbing" that was "put out by the district about this board policy."

"I'd like to say that Board Member Chardiet did nothing wrong in the last meeting by asking the board to agendize for discussion a policy change at the next meeting," Crunk said. "I would urge this board on April 10 to take up Ms. Chardiet's request to discuss the policy, not the policy about the policy."

The issue and the discussion with the Association of Classified Employees are scheduled to be discussed at length at the April 10 meeting.

Board President Karlo Silbiger sent an email to Patch Wednesday evening stating that while a short meeting was held between both the school district's  bargaining teams  and ACE's bargaining teams on Monday,  no negotiations took place and no board members were present during the meeting.

Silbiger said the purpose of that meeting was to "transmit the parts of the contract that ACE wanted to have bargained," adding that the board is currently seeking legal advice from its attorneys over whether or not the board is obligated to bargain. 

Editor's note: This article was updated at 10 p.m. Wednesday to include President Karlo Silbiger's comments at the end of this article and to correct an initial statement that the school board met with representatives from ACE in closed session on Tuesday afternoon. It did not.

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