By Melonie Magruder
Lookout Staff

March 23, 2012 -- This year, the Santa Monica - Malibu School District will make an exception when it presents its Stairway Honor Award, bucking the tradition of choosing
an artist.

Chandra Narain. Photo courtesy of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District

But if an exception is being made, the honoree at the 63rd Stairway of the Stars this Thursday and Friday, district officials agree, is exceptional. Chandra Narain, an Education Services administrative assistant, has made a contribution to the arts program’s legacy that is incalculable.

Narain, who was chosen by the district’s 23 music teachers, has been “the driving force and glue that holds this whole thing together,” said fellow Director of Curriculum & Instruction Peggy Harris.

The contribution made by Narain, goes far beyond mastering a Brahms concerto. For almost 23 years, Narain has acted as the “go-to” gal for the district’s performing arts program and Stairway concerts -- organizing the logistics for as many as 1,000 performing students (elementary through high school), 26 bands, orchestras and choirs.

She also aims to please a district-full of demanding parents and guest conductors (this year, legendary band and orchestra honoree Tom Cole), and helps organize concert security, instrument repairs and transportation. And she offers a sympathetic district shoulder for an army of nervous young musicians.

Tom Whaley, who is the visual and performing arts coordinator for SMMUSD said that Narain has been “invaluable” to him over the past 10 years.

“When I first got here as a band director, Chandra was assigned to me as an assistant,” Whaley said. “I was astonished. An assistant to a band director in this era of budget cuts?

"But we’re a great team. She does everything that I am not good at. And the best thing is, her talent comes along with an ability to interact with everyone so warmly.”

Several district arts’ administrators and teachers agreed that Narain’s “calm in the eye of the storm” is a priceless attribute in the sea of artistic temperaments.

“Chandra deals with students, teachers, board members, administrative everyone and VIPs,” Whaley said. “I don’t know how she does it. The person who did her job before Chandra arrived left in tears.”

Both Whaley and Harris noted that during her tenure, Narain has overseen a substantial expansion of the arts program -- in the number of students involved, the number of arts teachers contracted and the money expended.

“Every other district in the country has seen their arts programs funding cut to the bone,” Whaley said. “But we have a supportive community, and Chandra has helped the program grow.

"The only thing is, the expansion hasn’t meant more resources for her personally; she has just taken on more duties. She is an amazing woman.”

Lisa Montoya has worked with Narain for 15 years in the Educational Services department and says she has always been impressed by Narain’s “quiet and extraordinary” force.

“I’ve watched her work so hard, and she just never loses her cool,” Montoya said. “Really, the fine arts program wouldn’t exist today without her.”

Narain came to the U.S. from the Fiji Islands. Ironically, she has no background in music, though she made sure her sons, Jainen and Jainesh – both graduates of SAMOHI, enrolled early in music classes.

When asked what presents the biggest challenge to her job, Narain laughed and said, “The logistics of informing several thousand parents of activities and deadlines.”

But when asked what presents the biggest reward in her job, Narain sighed with satisfaction.

“By far, getting to know so many kids with so much talent,” she said. “It’s worth it all when you see just how far our children can go in music.”

Narain is self-effacing about her accomplishments, saying, “When the music faculty called me to tell me of the award, I was embarrassed. I said, ‘No, don’t give this to me. Give it to an artist.’”

But her staff colleagues are quick to contradict her modesty. Harris said that the department would simply not function without Narain’s attention to detail.