In an announcement released an hour before midnight, Scott McVarish and Anne Burke – the first two – only two? — candidates for the Nov. 3 School Board election, declared that they are running a joint campaign, a unique concept yet to be defined.
They filed papers on Friday for the School Board seats voluntarily being vacated by Laura Chardiet and Nancy Goldberg.
Ms. Chardiet, who urged Mr. McVarish to run, emerges as chair of the joint McVarish-Burke campaign. “They will work well with our District and school leadership,” she said. “They will continue to inspire our parents.”
Mr. McVarish, an attorney, has been in the news this summer with his well-received For Great Schools series, in-depth interviews with leaders of the schools community.
The kickoff for the McVarish-Burke joint campaign is Sunday, Aug. 9, at 3 o’clock at the Jasmine Avenue home of Mr. Culver City, Mike Cohen.
It is an interesting choice of dates, the occasion when CicLAvia will be staged here, closing down some main thoroughfares.
On Sunday, Sept. 13, the two candidates will host a 1 o’clock campaign party on at Lindberg Park.
Ms. Burke is described as a parent leader, having served as the PTA president of El Marino Language School and on the Council PTA for the School District. She led in both the passage last year of the school facilities bond and earlier in the formation of the United Parents of Culver City. Her daughter is a second grader and her son is one year away from Culver City Middle School.
Mr. McVarish identifies himself as “a parent and teacher advocate whose sole focus is on what is best for kids.”
A co-founder of United Parents of Culver City, he is a youth volleyball coach and a volunteer at El Marino who loves “to read to the students, especially his daughter who is one year away from Culver City Middle School.”
Mr. McVarish is also an advocate and attorney for teachers and other employees as well as immigrant parents and children.
“Creating great schools is a team effort,” says Ms. Burke. “We have a leadership team in this district that is working very well together and making significant improvements to our schools.
“Scott and I have a great working relationship with these leaders. We hope to serve with them on the Board.”
“Nothing is more important to us than the experience students have in their schools, and the education and opportunities provided to them by the district,” Mr. McVarish and Ms. Burke said in a joint statement.
“We have deep, personal connections to how our district educates students. As parent leaders in this district for most of this decade, we are in our schools on a daily basis. We see their successes and challenges.”
Mr. McVarish said that “we are ready to work together with our excellent School Board colleagues and administrative staff, and our hard-working and dedicated teachers to keep focusing on the only question that matters to us: What is best for our District’s kids.”