Addressing the Community - Homeowner's Association

By Marla I. Wolkowitz

The following text is from the Homeowners Candidate Forum. Candidates were given three minutes to speak.

Homeowner's of Culver City, you will be happy to know that real estate prices continue to go up. While there are many reasons for this, one can assume that some of the phenomenon is due to our school system. Going forward from that assumption, and the continued and demonstrable successes of our schools I have chosen to focus my remarks on why you should consider me for one of your choices as a school board candidate.

In the past four years I have learned how to work within the system to accomplish goals. I have completed the 60-hour Master's in Governance Program and have gained a lot of information from this and other programs I have attended. I pay attention. Those who know me know that I am a straightforward, honest and independent person. Even though I am considered a politician by virtue of winning an election, I continue to represent the needs of children as real people, not political objects. I do not soft peddle realities but continue to speak from the heart.

I have been married to Ed for the past 30 years. We have three sons, Jarrod, Michael and Lee. Lee is in the 12th grade; both Michael and Jarrod are college graduates. Our family's life in Culver City has been one of service to our community. Ed was a Planning Commissioner, former councilmember and past mayor. My parents are very active at the Senior Center.

My daytime job at the STAR ECO Station also reflects my involvement with education in our community. STAR is an educational non-profit company that provides auxiliary resources to schools. I am the marketing director for the ECO Station Division that focuses on rescued exotic animals. Every day a part of my job requires me to focus on current educational legislation and interpret how proposed legislation will impact educational changes within schools. It is great to have an opportunity to use what I learned in PTA on such a regular basis and talk to legislators and their staff more often. Those relationships ultimately benefit our schools when we raise our issues with our legislators.

While I am absolutely responsible to you, the community, I still work independently when voting. School board members are pulled in several directions at any given time by a variety of outside influences. Rarely is it so lopsided on a topic that teachers, staff, parents and community members agree on an issue. As your representative I have the responsibility of casting my vote based on my past experience and knowledge of the issue. We make decisions on new and old policies, we approve curriculum and textbooks, we balance a multi-million dollar budget and we also negotiate contracts. This being said, I try to keep my focus on what is good for the one group under my care, the children of the district.
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Closing...

What is good for kids? The needs of a 6 year old are different from a 12 year old or a 17 year old. We cannot lump all kids together as they are have different needs at different ages and grades and at different times. Through what we call differentiated instruction we can now more directly focus on each and every student learning style and needs. This method certainly reduces the number of students who fall through the cracks in this era of accountability.

I am proud to be part of the successes of our student body.