Schools
Parents Hope to Form a United Front
New group aims to serve as a voice for parents of all Culver City school students.
A group of parents is joining together to form a united front in Culver City schools.
The new United Parents of Culver City will hold its kickoff meeting Thursday, May 24. The organization is a “labor of love” designed to represent all of the schools in Culver City, said Jeannine Wisnosky Stehlin, one of the organizers.
“We all decided that there was a need to have a parents' union when we tried to join forces regarding the adjuncts and parent-funded programs and positions issue,” she said. “It was an organic conclusion that there had to be a way for parents from all schools to exchange information and talk about issues that are important to us.”
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Steve Levin, who serves as interim president of the United Parents of Culver City, said he was interested in getting involved in order to give children, including his three in Culver City schools, a voice in the local political process.
"The goal of UPCC is to assure that the children of CCUSD are well represented in the political process," Levin said. "Nearly every issue which effects the children has many stakeholders, some of whom are very effective at presenting their viewpoints. It is inevitable that these stakeholders will sometimes have legitimate interests which conflict with the best interests of the children, so CCUSD, the Board of Education, and the community will need to weigh these competing interests. UPCC will assure that at least one organization can present a viewpoint which is motivated solely by what's best for the kids."
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The new, non-partisan organization will have a “Representatives Council” with representatives from each school as well as a Leadership Council and a Political Action Committee, Stehlin said.
"While the beauty of Culver City is that each of our schools are unique, we also realize that parents share one thing in common: we believe that our children, the students, should be the first consideration when the District and the School Board make a decision," she said.
The kickoff event is scheduled to take place from 7-9 p.m. next Thursday at 4443 S. Purdue Ave.
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