[Editor’s Note: In resuming his For Great Schools series, Scott McVarish, co-founder of the United Parents of Culver City, interviews School Board member Kathy Paspalis.  She has been on the Board for 5 ½ years. She has two children who are coming into their junior year at the high school. They were at the Culver City Middle School and at El Marino prior to that. Today’s subject is School Board relations. See www.facebook.com/forgreatschools]  

Mr. McVarish: Things seem to be going really well in the School District and on the School Board. That hasn’t always been the case. But I feel the Board is working well together right now. What is going right with the Board these days?

Ms. Paspalis: There aren’t a lot of personalities who are more concerned with their next office, or with union politics, or other types of politics. We’ve got five people who are solidly focused on the kids.  That is an important difference. We all are working together well. We worked together to get the bond passed. Now we are  working together to make sure that the priorities that were set in the needs assessment and Master Facilities Plan can be achieved.

Mr. McVarish: I went to the July Bond Facilities meeting but I didn’t hear much about the priorities. How would you like to see the bond money spent? What are your top priorities? Because, obviously, not everything can be fixed.

Ms. Paspalis: Yes, that’s correct. The Master Facilities Plan indicated we have $165 million in needs. The bond was for $106 million. We may be able to leverage Prop. 39 money among other sources. Generally speaking, though, we know that the $165 million in needs will grow. We are going to have to make some decisions about where exactly will or won’t get done.

My priority is to start with health and safety. That ensures that learning can happen. Since I started on the Board, I have been looking at the big things that need to be fixed. The  albatross formerly known as the Natatorium, the Frost Auditorium really needs an upgrade as did the athletic facilities. We have already started a lot of that. We added solar, which has been a great savings on our electricity bill. Beyond that, basics, like the bathrooms, really need to get fixed, especially at the Middle School/high school complex. There is no reason why a kid should have to wait until he goes home to do his business. Yet that is what happens. If you are a City Council member, you always hear about the potholes and the sidewalk cracks. The bathrooms are the School Board equivalent to that.

Mr. McVarish: And the drinking fountains.

Ms. Paspalis: Yes, and we have taken care of those. There are really nice new hydration stations where you can refill your reusable bottles. So it’s great. The bathrooms would be next. Some of it is just basic kind of infrastructure. New windows will mean better retention of heat in the winter and coolness in the summer. After that, we put in an air filtration system at El Marino.  It’s the soup to nuts. Then we can take a look at what kinds of 21st century classroom technology, science labs, upgrades and fixes we need. There seems to be a pretty good consensus around science labs. The Frost Auditorium already is in progress. The master plan covers the whole gamut.

Mr. McVarish: What are some things we can do to improve the learning environment — or better said, the teaching environment in the classroom. You talked about 21st century classrooms. What could that mean?

Ms. Paspalis: Some of this is critical but it has nothing to do with the bond– the bond is just about the infrastructure. We need new teaching materials. We need to continue a whole lot of professional development. And there is more to be done in terms of some of the Common Core curriculum and some of the New Math standards. The bond money can help us with more computer labs, the Regional Occupational program, career path classrooms, whether that’s digital photography or upgrading the culinary lab classroom.

We just signed off on 50 to 100 more computers. We are constantly ordering more computers to replace old ones or to add to the pool of available computers. The new testing is all on computers. So there has to be a way for an entire class to sit down at the same time and take these tests. We have invested in that somewhat, including staffing it. We really did not have the IT staff that we should have had. Now we are well on our way to getting there. So that is critical. I don’t think you ever stop doing that.

(To be continued)