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MyspaceGayle Eidelson has seven kids, but if she wins her bid for a spot on the Santa Barbara School Board, she’ll be responsible for 15,500 more. With 81 enrollment years between her kids so far — her youngest is only 12 — Eidelson also might be the district’s greatest source of institutional memory.
Having sent kids to Roosevelt (for 24 years), Washington, and Santa Barbara Junior High and High School, Eidelson said, “I feel like I’ve experienced a wide range of the schools. As things have evolved, I’ve been there.” Superintendents, principals, teachers, bilingual education — she’s seen them all come and go. Throughout, however, she’s remained dedicated to public schools, and her kids seem to have done well by them, the grown ones being Google execs, a civil rights attorney, and a med school student. A Bay Area native, Eidelson attended Berkeley and met her husband, Jon, there. They headed to Los Angeles for a short stint, where Jon picked up an MBA and Eidelson earned a teaching certificate before Jon found a job in S.B.
A veteran of the district’s Elementary and Secondary Parent Advisory committees who has served the schools in a number of volunteer capacities, Eidelson — a reluctant politician — was recruited to run by current trustee Kate Parker. Eidelson said that her chief goals are demanding a high level of academic rigor for all kids in the district while maintaining options for students with different learning styles and increasing parent involvement. Safety, as well, is of concern to her: “As a parent, as you let go of your children, you need to trust,” she said. “The schools are the largest factor in that trust.”
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7 children, all in public schools at taxpayer expense! Is it any wonder those of us with one or even two children (or none at all) are unwilling to subsidize large families with our property parcel taxes....
at_large (anonymous profile)
August 17, 2012 at 8:53 a.m. (Suggest removal)
What does "attended Berkeley" mean?
I have visited Berkeley and Santa Barbara before.
If this means a University of California campus, then the Independent should write it that way and not be sloppy and/or lazy. Have many of us UCSB graduates "attended Santa Barbara"?
John_Adams (anonymous profile)
August 21, 2012 at 9:48 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Berkeley is a pretty common shorthand way to describe UC, Berkeley. When I read that someone "attended" a school, I usually interpret that to mean that he/she did not graduate or complete a planned program of study.
zappa (anonymous profile)
August 21, 2012 at 10:54 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Yep, "Berkeley" or "Cal" are two very common ways to refer to UC Berkeley. That might be because Berkeley was the first UC campus - and for a long time, was the only one.
It was founded in 1869 in Oakland and moved to Berkeley in 1873. UCLA was the second campus in the system, established in 1914. Our own UCSB was the third campus, joining the UC system in 1944.
EastBeach (anonymous profile)
August 21, 2012 at 12:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)