Even if no one else jumps today’s 5 o’clock filing deadline in Norwalk, the School Board election on Nov. 3 will climax what now shapes up as a classic heart-stopping campaign.
In a belated scramble for two open seats, Prof. Kelly Kent, who filed two days ago, will represent the liberal side of the dimension.
Scott McVarish and Anne Burke, running as a team, appear more traditional.
Those assessments are as liquid as the abbreviated showers sweaty Californians have been sentenced to endure during the most perspiring time of year.
Until Monday, an election was not going to be necessary. Ms. Burke and Mr. Varish were going to be swept into office by acclaim. No more.
Moments after Ms. Kent’s candidacy became public, multiple reports from upper echelon times began filtering over the transom that Ms. Kent “does not do the Pledge of Allegiance” as a member of the Parks and Recreation Commission.
Emphatically wrong, says a woman friend.
“Kelly does the Pledge of Allegiance,” she said. “She does not say ‘under God.’ (Fellow commissioner) Laura Stuart doesn’t either. But both of the do the rest of the Pledge.
“Here is what happened when Kelly was first sworn in a few months ago. Laura asked her to do the Pledge and Kelly initially refused. She did it but she was uncomfortable doing it.
“She was uncomfortable at first, I am assuming, because she was on stage for the first time, and I think she has a ‘God’ issue, as do many people.
“Her first experience was a little but rough with the Pledge, not because she refused the Pledge. She did not. It was because she refused the ‘under God’ portion,” Ms. Kent’s friend said.
2 Comments on “Culver City’s Two-toned School Board Race?”
This is not exactly correct. I asked Kelly about not saying the Pledge as I was Chair of Commission and I had fellow commissioners complain to me about this issue on multiple occasions. After a couple of discussions, Kelly told me very emphatically why she will not say the pledge allegiance. I would suggest Mr. Noonan ask her directly. I am sure she will be honest and candid about her position on why she will not say the pledge of allegiance as she was with me.
Sometimes we turn to the Front Page Online because we know it covers so much school news. Sometimes we turn to it to hear the latest rumors. I admit I enjoy both. Not so much, however, when those two intersect. I am running for school board and support Anne Burke in her campaign for school board as well. http://www.facebook.com/burkemcvarishforschoolboard2015 Nevertheless, I feel compelled to stand-up for fellow candidate Kelly Kent regarding her issue with the pledge of allegiance being covered as news. First, I am hoping the election for school board will based on Anne & my vision for our schools and our experience versus Kelly’s vision/experience– not on who pledges allegiance to the flag and who doesn’t. Second, running for school board is different than running for city council or the Assembly. We are all parents– running as parents– and it seems wrong to attack parents trying to improve their schools. Disagree? Yes. Attack? No. Likewise, in another article in this paper today there was a letter again attacking the United Parents of Culver City as being outsiders when 95% of the members are in fact CCUSD parents who simply want their voices to be heard and the other 5% being supportive Culver City residents. Let’s hit the reset button and make every article and every letter be about the competing visions and policy ideas for our schools. I will be posting video articulating my vision as well as policy papers on my website of http://www.ForGreatSchools.org – I look forward to our debates.