Change The LAUSD

[Galatzan's] challengers, meanwhile, push hard on her support of the iPads — an effort that Deasy called a civil rights imperative.

Carl J. Petersen faulted the use of school construction bonds to buy the devices. The parent of five also prefers well-stocked computer labs to the purchase for each student of what he called a "glorified toy."

Read the full story at http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-lausd-election-20150220-story.html#page=1

Another candidate for District 3 is Carl Petersen, who clearly understands that Galatazan "doesn't pay attention to her constituency, " but rather has no problem getting lost in her iPad during public comments at the board meetings- clearly, her mind is already made up and she's just going through the motions. 

Petersen got into this because of a personal interest in special needs students who the district continues to either ignore or underserve. In Petersen's systematic approach to this issue, he has shown a rational approach that can easily be translated into other areas where the district and more specifically the LAUSD Board have consistently missed the boat. 

Whether it's viable alternatives to college careers or "classes structured for STEM, but not interest, Petersen clearly understands that the district's top/down model has no place for individual needs in a system where there is never an "independent justification" for what the board does and why.

Read the full story at http://www.citywatchla.com/8box-left/8441-if-failed-teachers-are-fired-why-are-failed-lausd-incumbents-re-elected

JAZLEY FAITH

JOURNALISM.

In my e-mail, I also ask Petersen if he will have time for a phone-interview. He responds back within 8 minutes with his phone number and an invitation to call him, although he has a meeting at 11. I respond to him that I am in class until 10:50 and ask for another time, and he assures me that he will e-mail me after his meeting. I can’t help but notice that he signs his e-mails simply with his first name as “Carl”, despite my formal address to him as “Mr. Petersen.”

I seem to be checking my phone more often as I casually open Google to begin researching this friendly and prompt Mr. Carl Petersen.

Read the full story at http://jazzleyfaithjournalism.tumblr.com/post/111154529102/from-the-lens-of-a-journalist-tamar-galatzan-v

The father of five decided to run after spending two days at LAUSD headquarters fighting with district lawyers for the services two of his children need because they suffer from disorders in the autistic spectrum. While campus-based educators agreed Petersen’s children needed the support, he said, district higher-ups didn’t agree.

“During those two days, I said, ‘Something has to change; parents need a say,’ and I decided I was going to step up and run,” Petersen said.

Petersen also believes the cure to many of LAUSD’s woes is more local control. But rather than break up the district, he said, LAUSD needs to set clear expectations and let educators decide how they’re best achieved.

“You have to let teachers do their thing. They’re professionals; that’s why we hired them,” said Petersen, who heads up logistics for a company that manufactures surveillance cameras.

Read the full story at http://www.dailynews.com/government-and-politics/20150214/lausd-district-3-race-5-challengers-seek-to-end-tamar-galatzans-reign

Posted on February 13, 2015 12:28 pm by Craig Clough

Carl Petersen

Petersen spent a lot of the night criticizing Galatzan. He said the board failed to successfully oversee Deasy, was strongly against the iPad program — even belittling it at times...He also said teacher jail was overused.

On the issue of teacher vs. reform, he said he would be a representative of parents. He was the only candidate to bring up MiSiS, the district’s troubled computer system, and criticized the district for going forward with it when MiSiS was “not ready for prime-time.”

Read the full story at http://laschoolreport.com/packed-stage-empty-house-district-3-game-show-debate/

Posted on February 2, 2015 1:19 pm by Craig Clough

If Carl Petersen does not win the crowded LA Unified school board race for District 3, it certainly won’t be because he was not aggressive enough.

He has been relentlessly hammering incumbent Tamar Galatzan for months on Twitter, Facebook, in press releases and the comments section of LA School Report. Long before most of the other four challengers declared their candidacy, Petersen was calling out Galatzan for every fault he perceived, on issues great, small...

Read the full story at http://laschoolreport.com/bad-lausd-experience-led-carl-petersen-school-board-race/

Guest post by Ellen Lubic, Executive Director of Joining Forces 4Ed. 

Porter Ranch Community School Expected to Receive More than $240,000 as a Pilot School; New Funding Formula Cut Those Funds

By Matt Thacker on June 4, 2014.
[email protected]

"The regulations for implementing the new formula were approved in January, and Galatzan and LAUSD officials maintain they were not aware until then that pilot funding would be cut. Carl Petersen, who is running against Galatzan in next year’s election, said LAUSD never should have provided funding estimates to the school community when they knew changes were coming."

Read the full story at
http://www.postperiodical.com/funding-change-upsets-porter-ranch-parents/

Posted on April 24, 2014 11:30 am by Michael Janofsky

"Petersen’s candidacy represents his first run for public office.

'I’ve been thinking about it for a year,' he said in an interview, explaining that his prime motivation was encountering obstacles in his quest for help for two of his daughters with autism.

'It’s such a bureaucratic process with all the hoops they make you jump through,' he said. 'There’s a feeling throughout the district that the board doesn’t listen to parents. You see it in Breakfast in the Classroom, the iPads. They have a deaf ear to parents. Parents are speaking, but the board doesn’t listen.'

Petersen, 46, said his interest in running was not necessarily in protest of Galatzan. Not initially, anyway.

'At first it was more general,' he said. 'But then, I attended one of her community meetings about the budget. After listening to her, I was not impressed.'"

Read the full story at
http://laschoolreport.com/carl-peterson-elizabeth-badger-seek-galatzan-school-board-seat