18 Candidates Fight for 4 LAUSD Board Seats on March 5 Primary

LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Four of the seven Los Angeles Unified School District board district seats are on Tuesday's primary ballot, with two longtime board members retiring -- President Jackie Goldberg and member George McKenna -- leaving an open field for Districts 1 and 5.

Incumbent board vice president Scott Schmerelson and member Tanya Ortiz Franklin are running to maintain their seats in Districts 3 and 7.

If a candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, they will secure the office. Otherwise, the top two vote-getters will proceed to the November runoff.

The Board of Education governs policy for LAUSD, the second-largest school district in the nation.

There are seven candidates running to represent District 1, with McKenna retiring after a more than 50-year education career.

The candidates for District 1 are: Kahllid Al-Alim, Rina Tambor, John Aaron Brasfield, Christian Flagg, Sherlett Hendy Newbill, Didi Watts and DeWayne Davis.

Al-Alim, a community activist, is calling for more parent engagement and ending the "school to prison pipeline."

He was endorsed by the influential United Teachers Los Angeles teachers union, but he came under fire recently for re-surfaced social media posts, including one that suggested assigning an antisemitic book to students. The candidate apologized for the posts.

"There is a very long history of Jewish and Black people backing each other and working in solidarity for justice. I want to continue that important work," he said in a Feb. 20 statement.

In response, UTLA's Board of Directors voted to suspend campaign activities in District 1.

Also vying for the District 1 seat, which covers areas including Palms, South Los Angeles, Baldwin Hills and Koreatown, are:

-- Tambor, a tutor, who wants to focus on core skills, improve support for special needs students and reduce class sizes;

-- Brasfield, an educator, who wants to implement a zero-tolerance policy for bullying and focus on district-wide reading proficiency;

-- Flagg, a community organizer, who wants to protect and expand equitable educational strategies that provide targeted investments needed to support students with the greatest needs;

-- Newbill, an education policy adviser for McKenna, supports policies that promote comprehensive school safety plans;

-- Watts, chief of staff to LAUSD Board Member Tanya Ortiz Franklin, vows to ensure the equitable allocation of resources to support students, who have been historically underserved; and

-- Davis, an educational strategist, who wants a comprehensive safety plan to protect students, and is calling for the implementation of the "Community Schools" model to improve education.

In District 3, which covers much of the northern and western San Fernando Valley, voters elected Schmerelson to represent the district in 2014 and again in 2020. He is facing four challengers: Dan Chang, Elizabeth Badger, Andreas Farmakalidis and Raquel Villalta.

-- Schmerelson says he wants to improve student safety and equip schools with current technology, air conditioning and air filtration;

-- Chang, a math teacher at a North Hollywood middle school, wants to cut downtown bureaucracy and ensure student safety;

-- Badger, founder and CEO of Minority Outreach Committee, an organization that promotes economic, social and educational investment in marginalized communities, vows to improve campus security by collaborating with school police and the Los Angeles Police Department;

-- Farmakalidis, co-owner of California MusicBox, which provides private music lessons to students, vows to improve education for all students, especially those from marginalized communities; and

-- Villalta, a teacher, said she will "oppose gender ideology currently in LAUSD's curriculum as it undermines parents and their exclusive right to mentor their children on these matters."

In District 5, which stretches from the East Hollywood and Eagle Rock area to southeast Los Angeles, four candidates -- Graciela "Grace" Ortiz, Fidencio Joel Gallardo, Karla Griego, Victorio R. Gutierrez -- are trying to replace the retiring Goldberg.

Ortiz was removed in February from her job as an L.A. Unified counseling administrator pending a confidential investigation, school district officials confirmed to the Los Angeles Times. A school employees union, Chapter 500 of California School Employees Association, withdrew its endorsement of her.

The investigation began after a civil lawsuit was filed alleging Ortiz and a political ally are liable for the actions of a campaign worker, who pleaded no contest to sexual misconduct with an underage volunteer, according to The Times.

An attorney for Ortiz demanded in a letter to the plaintiff's attorney that the case be dropped, calling the allegations "malicious and defamatory," The Times reported.

According to the campaigns:

-- Ortiz's top priorities include fully funding schools and reducing class sizes in all grade levels;

-- Gallardo, the mayor of Bell, received Goldberg's endorsement to succeed her. His priorities include calling for smaller class sizes and making up learning losses from the pandemic;

-- Griego, an LAUSD educator, said her priorities include investing in mental health to support students and improving school safety; and

-- Gutierrez, a former teacher, dean and principal, said his priorities include creating a safe environment for learning and protecting and advocating for at-risk students.

In District 7, which covers an area including Carson, San Pedro, Gardena and parts of South Los Angeles, incumbent board member Ortiz Franklin is facing only one challenger: Lydia Gutiérrez, a Long Beach elementary school teacher.

According to her campaign, Ortiz Franklin's priorities include ensuring more students get to choose college and prioritizing student safety.

As for Gutiérrez, her priorities include achieving academic excellence and building fiscal responsibility by establishing oversight and transparency.