Re: “A Stunner: Down to a 3-Person School Board?” 

One day closer to the Nov. 3 School Board election, creeping toward the shadow of the filing deadline, and still not one live body has stepped forward to run – against no one – for one of the two open seats.

Reports have surfaced that at least two people will step forward next week to bid for the seats that are being voluntarily yielded by incumbents Laura Chardiet and Nancy Goldberg.

Reluctant or enthusiastic, brave women or men will step out from the crowd – won’t they?

The most riveting question in Culver City this summer – a community where hundreds of parents vigorously, generously volunteer every day – is why every parent has remained in a sitting position until nervously near the filing deadline.

With a large, round smile, Ms. Chardiet has a theory about the empty spaces:

“People are happy,” Ms. Chardiet says placidly.

She advances a second theory that is even more plausible:

“There isn’t a lot of controversy that would want to make people run.

That sounded like bingo. Without conflict, an audience tends to doze off.

Theory No. 3, equally compelling.

“A lot of people thought I was going to run again, and that only one seat would be available.”

Since Ms. Chardiet, longtime PTA activist/officer, was elected to drowning cheers four years ago, her personal life dramatically has changed. As the single mother of two teens, she said in her I Choose Not to Run announcement that the children need her attention more critically than the community does – for this election cycle.

Tomorrow: A different theory.