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'John McCain' of Palo Alto enters school board race

by Jennifer Deitz Berry

Candidate Ivan Kolozsvari is framing himself as the "John McCain" of the upcoming Palo Alto school board election, espousing views that may come as a surprise to many residents: He is the only candidate who will not be accepting donations from supporters, he wants to rescind the parcel tax, get rid of bonuses for superintendents, and put a stop to what he sees as latent racism in district hiring practices.

Kolozsvari, 64, is a longtime teacher and Palo Alto resident, and is the only candidate officially listed on the ballot to run against incumbents Cathy Kroymann and John Barton.

As for the parcel tax, Kolozsvari said he believes the added expense is a burden on many of Palo Alto's residents. (In June, residents voted to tax themselves $293 per parcel of land each year.) The amount is equivalent to his family's food budget for a month, he said. Kolozsvari also questions whether or not class size reduction -- funded by the tax -- is needed.

"If a teacher is well-organized, they can deal with 30 children," he said. "I do it every day." Kolozsvari teaches fifth grade at Belle Haven Elementary School in the Ravenswood district.

Other benefits from the tax could be made up if the district's budget were better managed, he said.

Kolozsvari also supports a kinder, gentler style of district leadership. He credits departed superintendent Don Phillips with turning around the Building For Excellence project and doing a good job with land management issues, particularly related to opening Terman Middle School. But he said Phillips also created a "tense and unhappy environment" that "induced many talented people to leave their jobs."

Kolozsvari said principals in the district chafed under Phillip's management, but were afraid to voice their frustrations publicly. And he believes the root of the problem may be the district's policy of offering superintendents bonuses for performance, because it creates an incentive for superintendents to pressure district staff to raise scores.

If elected, Kolozsvari would also push for a review of the district's hiring practices. He said there is a sense in the district that African Americans are not being hired, because officials are concerned it will be harder to fire a racial minority without being accused of discrimination.

"It's latent discrimination that is very, very hard to prove," he said. "But it's there and people know about it. Colored employees in the district feel very dejected."

Finally, Kolozsvari would like to see more attention paid to students who aren't top achievers. He remembers fondly one of his son's friends: "That kid could take a car apart blindfolded and put it back together, and he felt so worthless because he wasn't college material."

"I love that kid so much, I cannot tell you," Kolozsvari said. But, in his last year of high school, the student committed suicide -- a tragedy that could have been avoided, Kolozsvari said, were there a more inclusive atmosphere in Palo Alto schools.

He said he will not be accepting donations for his campaign because he believes contributors can turn into pressure groups. "If you resent special interest groups lobbying the Congress, why should you tolerate it in your schools?" he said.

But he is frustrated by the current political scene that seems to exclude candidates who are poor. He said even candidates for school board often feel pressured to raise thousands of dollars to campaign, since it costs $1,000 simply to print a candidate's statement in the election pamphlet.

Kolozsvari was born in Hungary, but has lived in Palo Alto for almost 30 years. He is married with four children and over a dozen grandchildren. Besides teaching fifth grade, he has also taught evenings at the Palo Alto Adult School for 18 years.<@end bullet>

E-mail Jennifer Berry at jberry@paweekly.com