Value the Employees, Respect the Public

Debbie Hamme

I have been a member of this community for 28 years and in all those years, I have never seen a school board race with this intensity. It brought to mind the opening line from A Tale of Two Cities: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” because while most of what we read or heard was constructive, supportive or appreciative, too much of it was not. We may have come to expect “politics as usual” on the national scene, but there should be no place for it in a local school board race. Name-calling, character attacks or other forms of disrespect directed toward any member of our small community is demeaning to us all. We are better than that.

Many people I spoke to during the campaign expressed how important it was to see a sense of decorum and mutual respect brought back to the school board, a sense that their input was important to the decision making process and valued. Perhaps the results of this election are most indicative of those desires.

When stepping into the voting booth, every voter had their own criteria for judging the candidates, and their own opinion about the qualities that make a good board member. Ultimately, people voted for the candidate that put forth a message or had a focus with which they could most closely relate. It wasn’t about how much money was spent on mailers or ads, how many signs were up in their neighborhood, or how much behind the scenes gossip they had heard, it was all about (or should have been all about) the candidate’s message and how well it resonated with them.

The results of this election were gratifying to some, surprising to others, and devastating to others still. Such is the nature of politics, and each of us sees things from a different perspective.

For the last four years the morale among district employees has steadily declined. That is partially attributable to the declining resources the district has suffered as a result of state budget cuts, but more certainly attributable to the fact that the employees of our district were constantly under attack in the last few years for comprising a 90% financial liability to the district. We were not made to feel that we were essential to or respected by the district, instead we were made to feel guilty for even wanting to protect some quality of life for our members by suggesting there may be other things to cut besides salary and benefits. It also didn’t help that with the elimination of support staff positions, we were expected to do more and more work for less pay.

It was clear to us just how under-valued we were when we were treated to anti-union sentiment on the part of specific board members in print and at board meetings. Imagine how disrespected one feels to stand at the podium, making an impassioned statement to the board, only to see board members rolling their eyes, making snarky comments to each other, or not even making an attempt to feign the least bit of interest—often staring into space or texting on their phone. And the saddest part of all is that this rude, bullying behavior was modeled for our students sitting in the audience.

That is why, as the president of the Association of Classified Employees—Culver City, I am both excited and relieved that there will soon be a new dynamic on the board--one that will most assuredly model the integrity, mutual respect and inclusion that has been sorely lacking on the board for far too long.

A.C.E. is anxious to be part of the process and is hopeful that a new spirit of collaboration between the board and the union will enable us to find solutions--together--to the challenges that still face our district.

Debbie Hamme is the President of the Association of Classified Employees-Culver City and an employee of the Culver City Unified School District.