ISSUES
"As the daughter of a career public school teacher, I’ve always been passionate about public education. I believe that when we put our students and our educators first, and focus on building relationships with each other and across the community, we can have both equity and excellence and our schools will be among the best in Los Angeles County."
Families come to Culver City for our excellent public schools. It is imperative that we have academic opportunities and extracurricular activities that meet the needs of all of our students. We also need to take care to create a positive environment for our educators and staff who care for our children and ensure that they are fairly compensated, so that we retain our experienced professionals and attract new talent.
Why are you running and what are the main goals that you seek to accomplish?
I am running to restore trust between district stakeholders (the community, our educators, district management, and the school board) and to improve management of the district, using the skills I have as a lawyer and a longtime manager of people and projects.
The three things that are currently at the top of my list to accomplish are: (1) bringing fiscal stability and smart management to the district, by examining our current practices and norms and identifying ways to improve efficiency, create revenue, spend responsibly (including increasing the percentage of the budget spent on students and in our classrooms to well above the 55% minimum), and improve legal compliance; (2) better connecting the community to the schools by ensuring that CCUSD is a welcoming place where all students, educators, and community members feel safe, included, heard, and appreciated; and (3) ensuring that we have academic opportunities and extracurricular activities that meet the needs of all of our students.
How long have you lived in Culver City, and what is the extent of your involvement in CCUSD schools to date?
My husband and I have lived in Culver City for the past 10 years. We moved here because we wanted any future children we would have to be able to attend excellent public schools, as both of us did when we were children. I became involved in CCUSD schools the moment our son started TK in fall 2022. My first action was joining the El Rincon Site Council, on which I served during the 2022-2023 school year. Our son transferred to El Marino in 2023, and I joined the PTA and started attending meetings - then became part of the PTA’s nominating committee to recruit and assemble a proposed slate of 2024-2025 officers. I have attended nearly all school board meetings since fall 2022, either on Zoom or in person as my work schedule and childcare responsibilities allowed, and have provided public comment at many of these meetings. I was instrumental in bringing to light certain matters of legal noncompliance by the current board starting in early 2023. That led to being recruited to help administer a grassroots group on Facebook, where I collaborated with other admins and moderators to organize the community around advocating for concrete and meaningful actions to improve our local schools.
What are the biggest problems in the district at the moment, and how can we solve them?
Throughout this campaign, I have spoken with many parents and caregivers who are considering their future in CCUSD. Overwhelmingly, the concerns that families have that are leading them to consider other options appear to be centered around two overarching issues - student safety, and academic rigor - with some residual concerns around school facilities.
As to the issue of safety, there were significant concerns throughout the 2022-2023 school year, particularly at the middle and high schools. These concerns reverberated to elementary school families, thinking about the long-term future in the district. While I am generally skeptical of over-policing and inviting law enforcement onto CCUSD campuses, I am fully supportive of the district collaborating appropriately with CCPD and particularly their School Resource Officer (SRO). Last fall, one of my partners in organizing put together an event inviting site administration and CCPD to speak with families and community members. It was incredibly informative, but unfortunately, was not supported or attended by any current members of the board. My understanding is that the safety situation at both the high school and middle school has improved with new principals in charge of each. We have also had some safety-related incidents at the elementary school level, particularly at El Marino, which could be related to how proximate it is to the 405 freeway. Unlike the prior superintendent, Dr. Lucas took a proactive approach to meet with families and hear their concerns. We need to continue to build on the progress we have seen since last year to ensure that all of our students both feel and are safe, and devote attention and budget to improving safety across all of our campuses.
Around the same time safety concerns started increasing, the school board approved the removal of “honors” 9th and 10th grade English classes in favor of one uniform class that they deemed “college prep.” Many parents and guardians were outraged, concerned about the lack of academic options for their kids - and whether “honors” classes in other areas would be next. While the district has stated no current intent to remove other honors options, we know that there are some current and potentially future board members who would do so if they could. I support a full range of academic options to meet the needs of all of our kids with respect to providing a rigorous curriculum, and support their path toward whatever they desire to do after high school. This may mean in some instances that we should explore adding classes that we do not yet offer, including CTE courses, and partnering with other local educational institutions (such as West LA College) to provide our students with even more options. I welcome community input on what those should be.
Speaking of facilities, what are your three priorities in spending Measure E money?
(1) Immediate, urgent fixes need to happen first - anything that directly impacts students right now, such as leaky ceilings and bathrooms in a state of extreme disrepair. Unfortunately, these should have been addressed through maintenance over the years but were not; now that we have an infusion of cash we should handle them quickly.
(2) I would like to see us rebuild, or at least substantially revamp, both the middle school and high school, including sufficient permanent classrooms so that we can finally get rid of the portables at the high school (which I understand have been there since the 1990s). I would like to see if we have the ability to include a pool in these plans.
(3) I would like to hear more from our school sites and professional staff evaluating needs before committing to a third priority. I understand that these conversations are underway, and I would like them to be more frequent and meaningful so that we get concrete recommendations and can prioritize them accordingly.
How will you work to improve the district's Special Education program and accessibility issues?
The district’s Special Education program has been a topic of great concern over the past few years. In a nutshell, families of students with Special Education needs do not feel that the district has properly implemented inclusion policies, and teachers and staff do not feel that the training provided to them has been adequate to effectively integrate these students into their classrooms. This has caused substantial friction, and I am committed to doing all that I can to bridge this divide. Additionally, there are serious issues with respect to students and families experiencing temporary and permanent physical disabilities, such as an elevator at La Ballona that was inoperable for the better part of the entire school year last year, as well as insufficient parking (even on a temporary basis) to enable people with disabilities to fully participate in their children’s educational experience. This is a completely fixable problem, and the school board should be taking a more active role than they have in ensuring that we rectify it.
How can we achieve equity in Culver City public schools?
As distinguished from “equality,” which is providing the same to everyone regardless of circumstance, “equity” takes into account individual and community circumstances and makes adjustments to imbalances to overcome intentional and unintentional barriers arising from bias or systemic structures. I’m not certain that equity can be “achieved,” in the sense that it is a value that takes an active, ongoing and continuous commitment infused into all of our actions. I appreciate that the district has a track record of prioritizing equity when promulgating policies, though I would like to see more specific and concrete action. I would particularly like to lean on our advisory groups and district staff for ideas regarding how we can continue to improve the district’s practices in this area. As far as concrete steps go, I will approach everything I do through an equity lens, as I have a track record of doing in professional spaces for a very long time. As to what that means, it includes interrogating implicit biases, and ensuring that all of the groups we serve on the board (whether students, educators, staff, community, and so forth) have equal opportunities and that we are removing both visible and invisible roadblocks to their participation.
Do you have a question that was not answered here? Please feel free to email the campaign - carlsonforccusd@gmail.com, and we will endeavor to get back to you as soon as possible!
