Who Should Represent Our Community on the School Board?

Over the last several weeks, we've been bringing you a new Friday feature called Moms Talk.

This week we asked moms to sound off on Tuesday's municipal election, and who they favored in the competitive race in LAUSD District 5 between Bennett Kayser, Luis Sanchez and John Fernandez.

Staci Eddy, an Echo Park mom who you've met here before, and probably also out in the community where she's very active, weighed in.  Here's her answer:

As a parent and a real estate agent, I often find myself in conversations about L.A. schools, and the L.A. Unified school system. Unfortunately, historically, these talks rarely covered the vital question of which candidate to back for School Board. I'm hoping this year might be different.

Echo Park has had one huge, hot-button education issue lately: the fate of the $70 million CRES#14 elementary school campus. From the original fight against the eminent domain demolition of historic homes, to the current battle over who will run the school (a charter or a public choice option), the debates over this campus have put quite a magnifying glass on the School Board members.

The [LD4 & Echo Park] Community Partners option enjoyed a landslide victory of 561 to 242 in the advisory vote, unanimous support by the teachers of the local schools, and the validation of a petition with over 650 signatures. You'd think School Board members' endorsement for the plan would be a no-brainer. Shocklingly, not.

The only possible reason Schools head Ramon Cortines and the LAUSD Board of Trustees would ignore the community's preference would be because they're politically beholden to the private special interests behind the charter corporation option. This seems reinforced by the fact that the board members delayed this controversial vote until AFTER their own elections on March 8th -- effectively circumventing any accountability to the voters.

Just Friday, the LA Times reported that the board wanted to do away with advisory votes altogether: that the public's opinion is just inconvenient for them-- especially since the public likes public choice options like Community Partners.

This is exactly the sort of unresponsiveness and inefficiency that Bennett Kayser is running against.  A veteran teacher, a loving parent and resident of Echo Park since the 1970s, Kayser's priority is not a lifelong career in politics.  It's about doing right by the community. That's what he has always done.

Without people like him in charge we're just going to keep heading the same, wrong direction. Bennett Kayser is someone concerned parents can actually turn to, who willknow us, and listen to us, and engage us in open dialogue. Someone whounderstands and supports parents who speak up, because he knows weonly want what's best for our kids. And he knows that's just how to whip LAUSD into shape.

Echo Park Patch reached out to a number of groups to find parents who support the other two candidates on the ballot in the LAUSD District 5 race. If you or someone you know would like to comment before the election, please let us know.