Gamet Named the RBUSD Board President

Drew Gamet is a musician. He plays the tuba, trombone, string bass, and a variety of brass instruments — you name it. But he has worn a different hat as well for quite some time now.

Since the age of 19, Gamet has been a teacher.

On April 6, he was named president of the Board of Education for the Redondo Beach Unified School District, a board he has been a member of since 2005.

"I am president-ing as we speak," Gamet said jokingly when asked when his term begins.

Although he is excited to take on the new responsibility, Gamet admitted that the state is going through a particularly difficult time in the realm of education. The Redondo Beach district is currently facing a $3.6 million deficit.

"My favorite quote is, this was a couple of years ago, a fiscal analyst visits and says, 'Hey, congratulations. We went from the bottom of the bottom quartile to the top of the bottom quartile,'" Gamet said. "Needless to say we're back at the bottom quartile. I just can't believe we're the worst in the country considering how valued our education is."

The board is currently waiting for news detailing the firm numbers of their operating funds for the next school year and information regarding budget cuts. But Gamet said that he and his peers on the board are up for the challenge when it comes.

The teacher brings up a story he'd heard once about a great musician who was asked how he became such a master of his craft.

"He said, 'it's not that I'm the greatest player, it's that I know how to solve problems the fastest,'" Gamet said. "And that's what we've got going on in Redondo Beach. Because of this group that is creating this really incredible synergy right now, we can move past these things better than any of our surrounding districts."

One of the cuts that Gamet is hoping to avoid is firing teachers — but he said it may become inevitable.

"We're not paying our teachers enough as it is," he said. "These are the best and the brightest and we're going to turn them off from education, the most important job. Honestly I'm hoping we don't go down that road."

"But," he continued, "the overall result is that we are getting less money."

Carl Clark, board vice president who has worked with Gamet since he first joined the board, said that he suspects Gamet may be interested in discussing school schedule changes and environmental issues.

Clark said that Gamet has taken a particular interest over the years in studies that have proven that high school students may retain information better when they begin their school days an hour later than their current 8 a.m. start-time. The studies also show that longer school years could potentially improve their learning patterns.

"Oh, he's wonderful," Clark said in reference to Gamet. "He's a teacher himself so he understands the system and he understands the students' needs."

RBUSD superintendent Dr. Steven Keller agreed that Gamet's teaching career has led him to be particularly sympathetic to students' needs. He said that Gamet has good negotiation skills and is willing to listen to both sides of any argument raised at board meetings.

"Mr. Gamet is an advocate for kids," Dr. Keller said. "He is an educator first and foremost. He can emphasize with some of our trials and tribulations."

In addition to being the new Board of Education president, Gamet still teaches music at Crozier Middle School in Inglewood.

"The foundation of great teaching is delivering a lesson the best way you know how to and then really assessing the students to see who learned it and who didn't learn it," the newly elected president said. "Who needs additional help and who needs to be pushed to go even further."

"Anyone can succeed, it doesn't matter where you come from and what you do. High quality teaching and high quality schools can make for great teaching and great schools," he said.

Gamet said that the educational system has grown and developed significantly since he was in school himself.

"When we were in school growing up, you had your one teacher and that one teacher really kind of looked out for you," Gamet said. "Now that's changed. It's not one teacher, it's a team of people working together.... When that process is really just clicking, oh, that's just the best. There's no excuse for low performance anymore."

Gamet's term on the Board of Education runs until 2013.