- Steve Lopez, Los Angeles Times
It has been two years since I decided to run for the LAUSD School Board. During this time I have immersed myself in the issues facing the district and am continuously surprised about how deep these problems run. Simply put, our students cannot afford to continue with the status quo.
While the incumbent says that the “district is going in the right direction,” my experience shows otherwise. We are failing our students when 33% of them are not graduating when they are supposed to. Our children are drinking from water fountains that leach lead. Money is being wasted on lawyers instead of providing services to children with special needs. In 65 % of middle schools, libraries are not open for their students. The FBI is investigating the district’s plan to divert $1.3 billion from construction and repairs to the purchase of iPads loaded with incomplete software. The district will spend $98 million fixing a $13.5 million MiSiS program that was poorly planned and inadequately tested. The list of failures goes on and on.
Our students deserve better.
I am a fighter who will attack these problems from their base - the overbloated LAUSD bureaucracy at Beaudry. However, I can only do so if you take the time to vote. Otherwise, the $269,316.55 spent by outside interests to support the incumbent will win and the status quo will remain in place. This will be another loss for the 600,000 children of the district.