How To Flex A School Board Majority

“We must hold the Superintendent accountable…”

– LAUSD School Board Member-elect Karla Griego

When the dust settled after Tuesday’s election it was already clear that Sherlett Hendy Newbill would be the next representative for BD1. Since then her lead has only increased and Newbill now has 52,357 more votes than her opponent, parent activist Kahllid A. Al-Alim.

In BD5 Karla Griego has also padded her lead over her opponent and now has 22,626 more votes. Griego declared victory on Friday night secure in the appearance that Graciela Ortiz does not have a path forward.

The closest race is BD3 where incumbent Scott Schmerelson leads with 51.93% of the vote. However, each nightly data dump by the Los Angeles County Clerk has shown results that are remarkably similar to the previous ones. Time is running out for Dan Chang to make a dent in Schmerelson’s 6,880 vote lead.

If these results hold, public education supporters should realize they are very lucky. With a shortage of accomplishments during their first term in the majority, these electoral victories could probably be attributed as much to the poor quality of the Charter School Industry candidates as to support for public schools. The public does not generally like candidates who fail to protect students from sexual assault at gunpoint or ones who bully their way through debates. There is a good chance that the steady stream of charter school scandals also contributed to the loss.

The infusion of new blood will greatly help this latest iteration of the Board majority. Jackie Goldberg and Dr. George McKenna have long records of supporting public school students but both seemed to lose their fight during the two years since finally achieving a majority. Having Goldberg as Board President should have set the stage for a revitalization of the District, but instead, there was little in the way of change for the better. In some ways, including community engagement and Special Education policy, we are worse off than we were two years ago.

Newbill and Griego are fighters who will make good allies for BD2’s Rocio Rivas as she fights for change. While history suggests that Schmerelson is uncomfortable taking the lead in tough fights, his votes are usually dependable so that this new Board can bring needed change to the District. Given Project 2025’s stated intentions to eliminate the Department of Education and otherwise disrupt public education, their work will be especially important.

These are some of the issues the new board members need to address upon taking office:

• Special Education:

While the District publicly repeatedly claims that parents are partners in deciding how services will be provided to their children with disabilities, the truth is many do not feel this way. Programs are eliminated without input, Individual Education Program (IEP) agreements are violated, and children are forced to receive services in closets and stairwells so that charter schools can take their classrooms. By law, the Community Advisory Committee (CAC) is supposed to provide input to the Board but has been manipulated by the District so that it no longer has an independent voice.

Griego and Newbill have promised to “support and work for the passage of the proposed ‘Improving Special Education Within the LAUSD’ resolution.” While Schmerelson has recently said he will not sponsor the resolution (costing him my endorsement in the primary), he and Rivas have previously supported many aspects of this proposal. Their follow-up is essential as this would be an important first step in addressing the issues facing SpEd. They must also take steps to ensure that District staff is enabling the CAC and not guiding its actions. Schmerelson’s Special Education Committee must also be upgraded so that it provides guidance to the rest of the Board.

• Publicly Holding Superintendent Carvalho Accountable:

Carvalho is currently evaluated behind closed doors and the public is blind to the process. Stakeholders have no way of knowing if he has ever been held accountable for the response to the hack of the LAUSD’s computer systems, the controversial termination of Primary Promise, or violating the public’s trust over the spending of PROP-28 funds.

The Superintendent’s continued employment with the District should be dependent on his ability to meet Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). These should be developed in open sessions with the participation of the public. The evaluation of his performance should never be conducted behind closed doors.

• Getting LAUSD Students The Money That Is Owed To Them:

As of the last public update on June 30, 2024, Los Angeles charter schools owe $3,003,768 for taking more space from LAUSD schools than to which they were entitled. Without Board approval, the Charter School Division granted many of these schools multi-year payment plans that do not assess interest on the balance due. Additionally, the Charter School Division forgave another $7,678,022 without approval from the Board or an explanation to the public. Charter school benefactors should have put “Kids First” and paid off this debt instead of running political campaigns based on lies, anti-Semitism, and ableism.

The proposed resolution: “Make LAUSD Students Whole,” outlines the steps needed to jump-start the collection process. I am willing to work with any LAUSD Board Member to massage this proposal into something they are comfortable with introducing.

Revamp The Charter School Division:

Charter schools are supposed to go through a renewal process every five years. Unfortunately, Gavin Newsom sold himself to the Charter School Industry during COVID and unilaterally extended the terms for all of these publicly funded private schools. As a result, schools that are poorly operated, are in severe financial crisis, or are not achieving promised academic results continue to operate.

With strong charter school oversight, this would not be a problem as the Charter School Division should have provided notification to charter schools when specific improvements were needed. The School Board would then have the authority to shut down the school if the negative conditions persisted.

This is not happening under long-time Charter School Division Director Jose Cole-Guitierez who is a former staff member of the California Charter School Association (CCSA). He declares that his department is a “partner” of the charter schools. He must be replaced with someone who understands that the law requires this Department to be a regulator, not a partner.

• Make Sure The Legal Department Is Ready To Fight:

Finally, the new Board needs to ensure that the right people are running the District’s legal department. LAUSD students will be at risk when Donald Trump starts following through with his threats against public education. The District must protect them in any way possible.

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Carl Petersen is a parent advocate for public education, particularly for students with special education needs, who serves as the Education Chair for the Northridge East Neighborhood Council. As a Green Party candidate in LAUSD’s District 2 School Board race, he was endorsed by Network for Public Education (NPE) Action. Dr. Diane Ravitch has called him “a valiant fighter for public schools in Los Angeles.” For links to his blogs, please visit www.ChangeTheLAUSD.com. Opinions are his own.