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By Judith Scherr 

Daily Planet Staff 

Irma Parker’s not the type to sit in a rocker and watch the flowers grow. 

She’s got a severe case of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and has had two surgeries, which has kept her off of work for two years. 

Still, her disability hasn’t kept her from being active, in particular, volunteering in the schools. Her desire to serve in the schools in not a new thing. She’s been doing it for 15 years.  

And she wants to do more. 

The School Board elections were coming up, and Parker decided serving on the board would be an ideal way to use the time on her hands and to serve the community. 

That’s when things started going wrong. 

Because of her Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Parker cannot go back to her job, so she receives special Social Security payments reserved for disabled people. The payments come with strict rules attached, she said. Recipients cannot earn more than $700. If they do, their payments are cut off. 

School board members are paid $875 per month. That’s OK, Parker thought – at first. She’d ask the district to pay her something like $698 a month and she’d donate the remainder to the schools, if she won the office. 

But at this point, she’s not sure she has the right to do this. A clause in the City Charter explicitly states that “Either the Mayor or any Councilmember may, at his or her sole discretion, reduce the remuneration paid himself or herself.”  

However, there is not a similar clause in the part of the charter referring to the School Board. The attorney for the school district – who did not return the Daily Planet’s calls – told Parker that the district would be unable to pay her less than her colleagues on the board, should she be elected, Parker said.  

Friends and supporters urged the active grandmother to seek further legal council, but the Wednesday, 5 p.m. deadline for filing election papers loomed ahead.  

At about noon on Wednesday, Parker told the Daily Planet she had decided not to turn in her papers for the school board race. 

“I’m not going to run,” she said. “My passion says this is something you want to do, but it should be clear cut.” 

However, Parker got calls throughout the day from supporters urging her to turn in the papers and buy time to seek other opinions. 

When it came down to Wednesday’s 5 o’clock deadline for turning in the papers, Parker was there in the City Clerk’s office. 

It remains to be seen whether she will be able to serve on the board and receive a lesser stipend than the others, so that she does not put her social security earnings in jeopardy. 

It remains to be seen whether she will accept office, if she is elected. 

* * * 

Deadlines for running for school board, like the rent board and the District 5 council seat, were extended from Friday until Wednesday, because incumbents were not seeking office. 

Others running for the two open school-board seats are: Incumbent Joaquin Rivera, John Selawsky, Sherri Morton, Murray Powers. 

Those running in the crowded field for the District 5 City Council seat are: Carrie Olson, Thomas Kelly, Benjamin Rodefer, Mark Fowler and Miriam Hawley.