Candidate Profile: Dr. Kelly Kent For Culver City School Board

CULVER CITY, CA — The 2020 election is heating up in Los Angeles County, and there are plenty of races with candidates eager to serve in elected office. Eyes are primarily focused on the presidential election, but voters will also decide the outcome of state representative and senate seats.

Closer to home, Patch has asked candidates for city council races to discuss their campaigns, publishing candidate profiles as election day draws near.

In Culver City, incumbent Dr. Kelly Kent is running for one of the two open seats on Culver City Unified School Board of Education.

Age (as of Election Day)

43

Town/City of Residence

Culver City

Office Sought

Municipal office

Where appropriate, add specifics about office sought: i.e., State Senate District 1, State Assembly District 2, Temecula City Council District 1, etc.

Governing School Board Member, Culver City Unified School District

Party affiliation (not needed in non-partisan races, including county, city and school offices)

Family

Both of my children attend CCUSD schools. I live in a multi-generational household with my parents and my husband and two children in two houses on one lot in Culver City.

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

no

Education

PhD in Neuroscience

Occupation

Neuroscience Consultant/Adjunct Faculty Antioch University LA

Campaign website

www.kellykent.com

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office

CCUSD Governing Board Member

The single most pressing issue facing our (state, district, community, etc.) is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

Equity. I plan to address glaring inequities in our district by transforming recruitment and retainment processes, our parent and student engagement practices, and our K-12 curriculum in my second term.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

I have the experience of serving a first term on the board, which is critical as the learning curve is quite steep. I am also very willing to push back against the status quo, which is critical in a time when the world is reckoning with the reality that upholding the status quo means upholding white supremacist structures.

If you are a challenger, in what way has the current officeholder failed the community (or district or constituency)

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform

I have the trust of our trusted state representatives, including Congressmember Bass and State Senator Holly Mitchell.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

Here are some first term accomplishments:
EQUITY & INCLUSION
The district’s Safe Schools Resolution was passed immediately in the wake of the 2016 election when students and families felt uncertain about the role their community schools might play in cooperating with government agencies. Also, critically important, the board formed an equity task force that has since spent a year conducting strategic planning. That equity strategic plan was adopted by the board in August of 2020.
The board formed a special education district advisory committee as part of the process of moving toward fully inclusive practices and adopted a K-12 full-inclusion policy this year.
Dr. Kent has served on the City of Culver City’s My Brother’s Keeper (MBK) committee since 2016.
In early 2020, through that city/school district coalition work, she was able to support the city as they moved toward and ultimately approved the MBK Action Plan. Just a month later, the school board passed an MBK resolution committing the superintendent to improve the educational outcomes of Boys and Young Men of Color.
SUSTAINABLE SCHOOLS
Dr. Kent has fought diligently to maintain district commitments to environmental and institutional sustainability.
The district was recognized in 2017 by state and federal governments for their decade-plus of
sustainability efforts led by the Environment Sustainability Committee.
Part of that work included getting Environmental Purchasing and Green Schools Operations Policies passed. Kelly was able to get the sustainability coordinator and committee reinstated in 2020 after a two-year hiatus. In 2020, that coordinator identified tens of thousands of dollars in school savings that will help offset future budget cuts as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Measure K
During her first term, Dr. Kent led a successful local campaign for Measure K, securing $2.3 million in annual revenue. #yesonprop15
PROMOTING THE ARTS
CCUSD has always been known for its commitment to arts, and that has been no different with Kelly on the board.
As a result of a district advisory committee strategic process, of which Dr. Kent was a critical part, the district’s strategic arts plan was adopted in 2019, which commits us to equitably expanding arts instruction and integration throughout the district
each year.
While on the board, CCUSD has rehabilitated the now state-of-the-art Robert Frost Auditorium, constructed a brand-new science building for grades 6-12, installed air conditioning at all sites, and makerspaces on all elementary school campuses.
SAFER SCHOOLS
As president of the board in 2019, Kelly led the passage of a firearm safety resolution requiring that an annual notice of legal obligations regarding safe gun storage be sent to all families in the district and include a compulsory guardian signature.
ACCOUNTABILITY
As Board President, Dr. Kent was responsible for instituting an accountability tool that appears on every single agenda called Pending Matters. This simple addition now allows the board to hold the district staff accountable on deadline for direction given in public related to any item, small or large on a range of issues across the breadth of school board oversight.

If you win this position, what accomplishment would make your term in office as a success?

Overhauling K-5 social studies curriculum.

Why should voters trust you?

I have a track record of service and commitment that has always been targeted to historically underserved students and families. In this period of racial justice awakening, it is more critical than ever that we elect people that will continue to center structural racism and acknowledge the role education has played in our history of exclusion and disenfranchisement..

What are your views on fiscal policy, government spending and the use of taxpayer dollars in the office you are seeking?

As a crisis was looming this past summer, I put together an ad hoc budget sub-committee to better ensure I was as informed as possible as we went into cuts. Now that the cuts have been postponed, we have the opportunity to build participatory budgeting into our structure so as to confront the looming deficits as equitably as possible. I have publicly called for our Citizens' Budget Advisory Committee to have a much more robust role. We must also fight to get proposition 15 passed, and I have been organizing on behalf of that measure with progressive school board members around the state. This past academic year, I was able to get our environmental sustainability coordinator position reinstated. This position consistently identifies 10s of 1000s of dollars in general fund savings annually. I have asked our administration to evaluate whether we could save money in legal fees by hiring in-house legal support. I have similarly asked that we look into participating in a health care consortium with other small districts as a potential source of savings. This track record of innovation around fiscal stability makes me especially qualified to be entrusted with the public's dollars.

Is there any reason you would not serve your full term of office, other than those of health or family?

no

The best advice ever shared with me was ...

A gift is only a gift if you accept it.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

My PhD is in neuroscience, which informs my understanding that the brain learns best in an environment the builds relationships, cultural relevance and rigor into all educational spaces.