Four candidates vie for two seats on Oak Park board

Kevin Carr

Four candidates will compete for two open seats on the Oak Park Unified School District (OPUSD) Board in the Nov. 7 election.

Two—Jan Iceland and Jim Kalember—are incumbents, and two—Kevin Carr and Steve Henning—are first-time contenders.

For this article, each candidate was asked the same question—"What do you see as the challenges facing the OPUSD and how would you solve them?"

All gave differing responses, along with other information about themselves.

Steve Henning

Carr said the biggest challenge is "to move to the next level, growth."

Carr wants to strengthen the curriculum and set higher standards, as the state has recently done. He also wants more time spent on foreign language studies at the middle school level.

Carr also would like a change in the high school science curriculum, which currently requires that students take summer school classes in global science as a prerequisite for ninth grade biology. His oldest son, a junior at Oak Park High School, was forced to take summer school and early morning classes to get ahead.

Because he doesn’t want his middle children to have to go through the same thing, he’s enrolled them in private school. He’s hoping that his proposed changes are made by the time his 7-year-old child enters high school.

Jan Iceland

According to an OPUSD administrator, the three-week class prepares incoming high school students with necessary skills to take a college-prep laboratory science course in biology. Students have an option of testing out of the earth science course by passing an exam, the administrator said.

Carr also wants to change the composition of students in each class. Under current policy, most of the students at all district schools (except for honors or college bound in high school) are taught together regardless of their level of ability.

"We need to have programs for gifted students to not de-motivate them. Also, this would allow the other children to get extra attention," he said. "We need to be realistic. Times are changing."

Carr isn’t a newcomer to OPUSD activities. He recently served as a parent representative on the district’s mathematics committee.

Jim Kalember

He said he felt the school board needs new input from parents.

"Now we have only one board member (Linda Seaman) with children enrolled in the school district. We need parents on the board. We need fresh ideas as the world changes," he said.

Carr, 44, is an independent financial consultant and a certified public accountant.

Henning felt that the school board is challenged to increase the district’s test scores. Although OPUSD actually rose in the recent API testing, the high school scores went down, he said.

Henning quoted a presidential candidate who recently said, "No child should be left behind."

He’d said he’d like to see struggling students given tutoring sessions in the evening, not after school, because the children need to go home and rest, he said.

Henning, who taught math at OPHS for four semesters, said he’d also like to see the creation of a math lab, where students could get help with their homework, from teachers and other students. He said that when he taught at the high school, his evening study sessions were very popular.

"These ideas for math also could be used as a model for other subjects," he said.

Henning said he also is bothered by the "double-digit" raise that teachers were given last year.

"I couldn’t believe that the district gave an across-the-board increase, instead of using the money in creative ways," he said, adding that he felt that Oak Park teachers "already make a lot of money," and that it’s a good, safe district in which to work.

"When they did that across-the-board increase, they did not give enough money for the great teachers, and too much money for those who may not be pulling their weight," he added.

Henning said he supports drug testing for all students and better enforcement of dress codes. He also wants to repeal the $50 parking fee for OPHS students, because it may present a financial hardship to some, he said.

Henning, 38, was a highly-paid actuary for 15 years, but gave it up to serve his community by teaching. At OPHS, he taught under an emergency license, but was released because he didn’t have a permanent credential. He currently teaches math at Santa Monica City College.

School board president Jan Iceland wants to be reelected to another term to continue the projects she’s already put in motion.

"There are no big issues right now, no fires to put out. We need to continue the way we’ve been working," she said.

"We want the best education for all of the students," she said, explaining that every enrollee should be given attention. She said she agrees with OPUSD’s policy of mixing the students (the opposite of Carr’s view).

"We need solid academics for all students—both college-bound and non college-bound,’’ she said.

Another important issue for Iceland is an articulated curriculum—one that flows seamlessly from one grade to the next.

"We’re almost there … I want to see this through to completion," she said.

Iceland also wants to increase the school-to-work program, which exposes students to different options so that they can make choices when the time comes, she said.

She said she’s pleased with the start of the Performing Arts Academy this year, which features two classes that show students what it’s like to be a professional performer.

Iceland, 53, is currently serving her ninth year on the board. This year marks her second term as president, which rotates every five years to accommodate all five boardmembers.

She also serves on many groups having to do with children, including the Ventura County Commission for Children, Family and Community, a commission formed to allocate the revenues generated by Prop. 10 (which taxes cigarettes).

Iceland also has been very active with regional education organizations. She was president of the Ventura County School Boards Association from 1997-1999.

Iceland also went through the master of boardsmanship program, a two-year course offered through the California Association of School Boards.

"With the education and experience I’ve got, I’m a valuable member of the board and would like to continue working for our schools, our kids," she said.

Iceland also manages her husband’s dental office on a part-time basis.

Incumbent Jim Kalember said he feels strongly that OPUSD needs to reach out to students in the middle of the academic realm.

"What I want to do–in the next couple of years–is to use our investment in technology to get diagnostic and prescriptive, to move those students in the middle," he said.

The district receives good data with which to track the students, he said.

"Say a kid has a 2.0 grade level, but performs high on standardized tests. We can track those kids to help us understand those in the middle," he said.

"We do a very good job on the high end, with four students recently accepted to Stanford University. The special needs kids get what they need. But the kids in the middle sometimes get ignored," Kalember said. "We need to see if we can move them up a little."

Kalember said that the new seventh period could be used for enrichment programs and helping those kids in the middle.

A teacher himself, Kalember is proud of OPUSD’s program which supports new teachers.

He said he’ll be part of the presentation team on that program at the California State School Board during its meeting in Long Beach this spring.

Kalember, 54, has been a boardmember since 1987, and has served as president three times. He was the only person to hold that position two consecutive years.

A former full-time teacher, Kalember now teaches a weekly social studies class at the Conejo Valley’s adult school. Currently, he is a vice president for an Internet company, and the co-founder of an Internet security software company.

Kalember said he’s running for office again "because there’s unfinished work" that he’d like to accomplish.