Laura Chardiet Wins Over Parents at Contentious School Board Meeting

Newly minted school board member Laura Chardiet received a standing ovation as she stepped up during Tuesday night’s four-hour school board meeting and presented a list of amendments she’d like to see added to the board’s policy, in an effort to help a challenge against the school district by the Association of Classified Employees.

Scores of parents turned out to the CCUSD Board meeting at City Hall to have the board hear their concerns over ACE’s letter submitted to the school board last Friday.

At issue is ACE President Debbie Hamme’s contention that adjunct positions at El Marino Language School (which are currently funded by the school’s booster club with funds raised by the school’s parents), should in fact be part of the ACE union.

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It wasn’t just El Marino parents in attendance. Parents from other local schools are concerned that if ACE wins this battle, their schools and booster club programs could face similar challenges from ACE.

More than 40 parents submitted speaker cards and the overwhelming message from the floor was that the school board needs to protect the adjunct positions, not be bullied by the union, and come up with a clear, written policy to address the issue and permanently safeguard parent-funded booster clubs.

One parent stated point blank: “We teach our kids not to accept bullying. I encourage you not to be bullied by a union.”

Valentina Garza picked up on the theme and ran with it. She said if her first-grader who attends El Marino came home and told her that bullies wanted her lunch money, “my logical response would not be to write the bullies a check.”

Many parents struggled to keep their anger in check. Garza said ACE’s move was a “shameless and self-serving money grab” and several parents echoed that sentiment as the night wore on.

Parent Jeannine Wisnosky-Stehlin presented a box with 969 petitions from parents from every school in the district save for El Rincon.

Click here to sign the petition.

“We’re petitioning you… to write a mandate protecting the volunteers and parent-supported services across Culver City,” she said.

Dan O’Brien said that ACE’s actions “will at best reduce the number of positions helping our kids that are funded by parents. For the board to not stand up for the kids is unconscionable.”

With more than 35 speakers still waiting to address the podium, Chardiet suddenly spoke up and read out a list of amendments to the board policy that she said she would like to be placed as an action item on the March 13 agenda.

 Chardiet’s suggested amendments to the board policy are: 

• For purposes of this policy, any work done by parents or staff or contractors of non-profits that do not encumber District funds, shall be considered volunteers. This shall also apply to any positions that are paid for by the District but are reimbursed by a federally recognized non-profit entity.
• If such a position in the same grade or department and at the same school site did not exist, then the work may be done by volunteers. Further, if the position had at one time existed but had been abolished or cut with no intention to resume later, then the work may be done by volunteers unless the original intent behind the elimination of the position was to replace it with volunteer assistants.
• The District shall respond within 30 days in writing to the offer of any federally recognized non-profit entity to provide volunteer assistance in order to enhance the District education program for students. Such offers may include non-profits that seek to place their employees in non-instructional positions as well as non-profits that would like to reimburse the District for any costs associated with funding of a non-instructional position.
• The District shall accept such an offer if it is aligned with the District and the school site educational goals unless it is in violation of the preceding paragraph.

To read the current policy in its entirety with Chardiet’s amendments highlighted in bold, click on the PDF document to the right of this article.

However, Board Member Patricia Siever took issue with Chardiet’s actions, intimating that Chardiet had violated discussions that had taken place in closed session.

“I’ve been put in a position I don’t appreciate," she said. “What we usually do is talk together [as a board].”

She also stated that while she had listened carefully to all the parents in the room, the board still had to meet with ACE and find out exactly what they wished to bargain over, before any decisions could be made – a sentiment echoed by President Karlo Silbiger. “We’re just trying to get the facts straight,” she said.

Board Member Kathy Paspalis came to Chardiet’s defense, stating, “I don’t think anything inappropriate happened [in closed session.]” She too said she felt it was important to move forward with trying to amend the policy so that volunteers are not jeopardized.

Teacher’s Union President David Mielke tried to look at the issue from ACE’s point of view saying, “This is really a technical issue unions sometimes take a look at: what’s a volunteer and what’s an employee? When is it appropriate for people to hire volunteers?”

Mielke suggested that the board get clarification from its attorneys and said that if ACE does take its case to the Public Employment Relations Board (a quasi-judicial administrative agency charged with administering the collective bargaining statutes covering employees of California's public schools), “that isn’t a lawsuit.” He suggested both ACE and the board go jointly to PERB for clarification on the issues if they can’t come to a joint resolution.

However, El Marino teacher Roberta Sergant scoffed at the notion, saying, “I would not like to see this go to PERB and I am a member of the union. I don’t think it’s in anyone’s best interest, any more than if I were to go to the IRS and ask if what I’m doing is correct.”

By evening’s end all board members agreed that a board policy was necessary but Silbiger stated that it would require discussions with staff and attorneys in order to create one that would work.

The board has yet to meet with ACE representatives and it’s still unclear what the union’s bargaining terms will be.

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