Change The LAUSD

Dr. Mike Robinson:  Carl Petersen, please share your opening thought on the issue of SRO in schools and the recent protests taking place across America?

Carl Petersen: As protests continue into the fourth week after the murder of George Floyd, more attention has been placed on the defunding of police forces. As this is a concept that has arisen organically and not from the messaging of establishment politicians who run everything through controlled marketing studies, there is not always a clear definition of what this would look like. For purposes of this discussion, I will define “defunding” as systematically eliminating the existing policing system and rebuilding it from the ground up. The goal is to create a system that actually “protects and serves” rather than acts like an occupying force...

Read the full article on OUR BLOG: YOUR VOICE

Dr. Mike Robinson: How can schools practice social distancing when kids return to school? 
Carl J. Petersen:  If there is a bright side to this crisis it may be that students finally get the smaller class sizes that they deserve. Unfortunately, it took a health care crisis to get it done.

While administrators will bear the responsibility for ensuring that there are fewer students in a classroom, teachers are going to have to be empowered...

Read the full article on OUR BLOG: YOUR VOICE

"Meanwhile, there’s still an election going on for LAUSD Board seats. Former candidate Carl Petersen skewers the attempt by charter school strategist Ben Austin to sustain an ‘anti-semitism sweepstakes’, falsely equating and comparing UTLA with the charter school lobby. During the primary season, anti-semitic flyers deluged board district 3 in the Valley and Austin claims these are subordinate to UTLA ads targeting high profile allies of Austin’s decades-long campaign to privatize public education."

Read the full article on the Los Angeles Education Examiner.

This feature would of course “help expedite the voting process” since voters using passes would not have to manually select any choices at the polls.  Elections officials want short lines at polling places, so they’re quite fond of Poll Pass.  “Unfortunately,” as Knock.LA blogger Carl J. Petersen put it last year, “the convenience of Poll Pass will come at a steep price for our democracy.”

Read the full article on the LA Progressive.

(Note: This interview was based on my article that was originally titled "Losing the Sound-Bite War." You can also read the article on Medium.)

Tune in to “Be Bold America!”  with host Jill Cody on Sunday, October 13 at 5:00 pm on KSQD.

What does it do to democracy when the President of the United States uses political sound-bites to capture the country’s attention such as “coup” and “civil war?”

"Carl Petersen, a veteran of the charter wars in Los Angeles, writes here about the serious defect in the charter reform law.

The law finally allows local school boards to determine whether proposed charter schools will damage the fiscal stability of the public schools, a welcome change.

But it also allows the unelected County Board of Education to overturn the decisions of the elected district school board. If the elected school boards determine that the proposed charter will damage the district, the unelected County Board can reject the decision of the local elected board. That is just plain wrong."

Read the article on Diane Ravitch's Blog.

"Carl J.Petersen describes the machinations of Nick Melvoin, a school board member who was put into office by the money of the charter school lobby.

As blogger Michael Kohlhaas has demonstrated by publishing leaked emails between Melvoin and leaders of the California Charter School Association, Melvoin is looking out for the interests of his sponsors."

As posted on August 26, 2019

"Carl J. Petersen, parent advocate and blogger in Los Angeles, writes here about the long, hard struggle to wrest control of the Los Angeles Unified School District school board from the hands of the billionaires.

Eli Broad, Michael Bloomberg, Reed Hastings, and other billionaires have funded the campaigns of charter advocates. The billionaires spent many millions to gain control, only to see one member of their slim majority—Ref Rodriguez— indicted for campaign finance violations. Even after his indictment, however, he refused to step down for nearly a year until after the board had chosen businessman Austin Beutner as superintendent.

But everything changed after the election of Jackie Goldberg, who won Rodriguez’s seat.

Read this great story."

As posted on July 8, 2019.

At least 116 Greens currently hold elected office

Name	Office	Location	Term Ends
Carl Petersen	Neighborhood Council	Los Angeles, CA	05/2021

See the complete list on the GPUS ELECTIONS DATABASE.

"Carl J. Petersen wonders if the LAUSD school board will hold failing charter schools accountable?"

Read the full article on Diane Ravitch's blog.