You are probably familiar with the phrase “when someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” When Howard Adelman spoke at a school board meeting in 2021, I was so appalled I was incredulous. He explained to the meeting – then- School Superintendent Leslie Lockhart, then – Board President Dr. Tashon McKeithian, and Board member Summer McBride what “Martin Luther King Jr. really meant.”
Had to pick my jaw up off the floor, really.
For a parent to decide that these educated, professional women of color needed to have MLK’s philosophy EXPLAINED to them was like listening to Brett Kavanuagh talk about what feminism really means. Adelman’s condescending speech about how a color blind society should work – stepping over the fact that we don’t have a color blind society, and that access and equity are issues that many students have to negotiate every day – was a level of arrogance I don’t think I’ve seen before or since. This is just one example of how unfit this guy is for office, but with this example, I don’t think more than one is necessary.
Marci Baun has made a number of comments at a number of meetings about how awful it was that the Superintendent Quoc Tran required vaccinations for students and staff to return to school. She has been part of a vocal anti-vax crowd throughout the pandemic. I do not want to see an anti-vaxxer overseeing our science curriculum. Or our health programs. Or our safety standards.
If all the people I see who have lawn signs out for Baun are ALSO not vaccinated, them I’m living in a very different landscape than I thought I was. This is not a small issue; this is about understanding science, a subject that we teach our children. Since Ms. Baun does not understand science, she has no place on the school board. The utility of science is not up for debate.
While the rest of the candidates in the race all have positive things to offer, these two don’t. There will be specific endorsements on election day. But for now – Believe them the first time.
Vote Smart. Even the school board is a vital, critical contest this year.
Judith Martin-Straw
YES on O’Brien and Renteria! I am not at all anti vax and I thought Tran was totally in the right to require them…but Marci Baun has my vote. She is level headed and while I don’t agree with her on the vaccine issue…I think she is a MUCH better choice than the others. Triston is 19 … with VERY poor judgment..enough said there…and the other two are just not the right choice…McBride is already there and look at the school…it is a MESS! Filthy with roaches, rats, maggots, etc. Out with the current board! In with the new..
Dear Judith, we’re done now.
Writing as someone whose wife is a school nurse at CCUSD, the thought of future student health and safety policies– policies to which she’d be required to adhere– being determined by an anti-vaxxer on the School Board is literally horrifying to me. Like, the concept is *beyond* insane.
“Sorry CCUSD nurses, I know you’ve got Masters degrees in public health and have literally dedicated your entire lives to protecting the physical wellbeing of schoolchildren, but CCUSD Board Member Marci read something nuts on Facebook, so that’s what matters.” My god.
“Incredulous” is the perfect word to describe my response when watching Mr. Adelman’s behavior during the Culver City School Board Candidate Youth Forum. I can understand questioning the legitimacy of school board candidates being asked about political issues that they don’t believe are relevant to the running of CCUSD. But I would certainly hope that anyone who aspires to an educational leadership position would be able to express their concerns about those questions in a respectful manner, especially when they are speaking with students. What I saw was high school students who behaved in a MUCH more mature and respectful manner than Mr. Adelman. That told me EVERYTHING I needed to know about this candidate.