Second in a series.
Re: “Ready? Set? Charge. McVarish Fires Back”
Scott McVarish says he and his School Board candidate teammate Anne Burke speak at least five times a day to synchronize their campaign strategies and exchange their experiences.
“Nothing happens,” he said, speaking in the third person, “unless Laura Chardiet (their manager), Anne Burke and Scott McVarish agree.”
There must be hiccups, wrinkles.
“For instance,” he said, “there always is a debate about how soon to send out mailers. That took us awhile to work through.
“But we are friends. We are very collegiate about it. We always come to a consensus, which is how we would operate on the School Board. We might disagree, but we listen very respectfully to each other. At the end of the day,” Mr. McVarish said, “we both know we are coming from very good places with very good motives. So we have a trust.”
What is Mr. McVarish’s primary strength that complements Ms. Burke, and what is hers that complements him and helps the team?
“I am definitely an education policy wonk,” said the attorney who formerly worked for school districts. “For me, education policy is not just about the curriculum in the classroom.
“It is about how you run school districts, it is about leadership, it is about how you create a marquee high school.
“These are subjects that have fascinated, even obsessed me, for more than a decade,” Mr. McVarish said. “I have a tremendous amount of School Board-level policy ideas.
“As opposed to tinkering with and telling teachers how to teach,” an arrow in the direction of rival Prof. Kelly Kent.
“I think Kelly Kent is really focused on the assistant superintendent of education services (Dr. Kati Krumpe), and that person’s role,” Mr. McVarish said. “That is appropriate when we have a bad one. Right now, though, in Dr. Krumpe, we have one of the best in the business.
“We do not need to micro-manage here. At all. If we micromanage her or the superintendent, we lose them. They need to have freedom. That is one of my concerns.”
(To be continued)
3 Comments on “McVarish Hits at Kent’s ‘Micromanaging’”
I appreciate that Scott calls himself an education policy wonk and that he thinks so much about fixing schools.
That said, it is ironic that he is accusing Ms. Kent of micromanaging the Superintendent on instructional matters, when at the League of Women Voters Forum, he expressed, in great detail all that he was intending to do when it came to overseeing the bond.
I think that voters don’t want to hear candidates accusing each other, or suggesting that they’re going to run the Superintendent out of town.
We want to hear your policy positions on how exactly you propose to improve schools, and if you disagree with other candidates positions, focus on the policy issue.
Scott, if you disagree with Kelly on her proposals to make schools more sustainable, why don’t you tell us why you feel that? Or her other positions.
Kelly, if you don’t agree with Scott’s position that every school should have air conditioning, tell us why you think this is wrong. What else that he proposes do you think needs to be done differently?
And Anne Burke, do you hold positions identical to Scott, or do you have different opinions?
Please. Let’s focus on what voters want to know.
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My daughter (a 5th-grader at Linwood Howe) submitted a question for this evening’s Kids-Only Candidate Forum, and unfortunately it wasn’t used, but the question went like this: “All my school assignments are too easy for me. What will you do to make the curriculum more challenging for advanced students?” Again, it was her question, and I thought that it was a good one. Now, though, I’m wondering if I should inform my daughter that even wondering about such things amounts to micromanaging. Sounds as though I’m to explain to her that curriculum issues like the one she raises are (or should be) of no concern to Culver Citizens– or at the very least not to Culver City voters– and that we should all just be happy with whatever curriculum choices our superintendent (and/or his staff) decides.
Should I go ahead and tell my daughter that her question is a dumb one, and risks offending Kati Krumpe, and that instead my daughter should really be asking exactly who went to which bond hearings, and how often? Please advise.