Final results are in for the LAUSD school board election, where the billionaires outspent everyone else in their attempt to grab control of the district and put at least half of the students into charter schools:
Monica Garcia, chief charter cheerleader, defender of John Deasy and enabler of the $1 Billion iPad debacle, defeated Lisa Alva and Carl Petersen, with 57% of the vote. A big loss for public schools.
Steve Zimmer, president of the board, came in first in his district with 47.5% of the vote and will face a run-off against the billionaire’s favorite, Nick Melvoin, who received 31.2% of the vote.
In District 6, charter teacher Kelly Fitzpatrick-Gonez came in first with 36.1% of the vote. She will face Imelda Padilla in the runoff, who received 31% of the vote.
Supporters of public schools have their work cut out for them to assure victories for Zimmer and Padilla in the runoffs.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Public schools have to take responsibility for going along with these “blended learning” initiatives, though.
They really DON’T have to buy everything ed reform is selling. All of the people selling this will be down the road when the (inevitable) regrets start rolling in. For God’s sake use your heads. If it’s dumb and reckless say “no”. There’s no requirement to offer up your students as guinea pigs for every “disruptive” (and profitable) sales pitch.
Make salespeople unhappy. They can take rejection.
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Good comments, Chiara. Thank you. AGREE.
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Many public school districts are as clueless as the corporate and charter school reformers when it comes to dealing with the real challenges that schools are faced with. Every one is offering the same data driven, high stakes testing, teachers are the problem- kind of solutions that ignore the social, emotional and equity gap “elephant in the room.”
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Can’t find the percentages in Dist. 2 where the atrocious Monica Garcia is said to have won. Wonder what would have happened if the out of towner, Carl Peterson, had thrown his support to Lisa Alva, and perhaps UTLA would have kicked in for ALVA some of that big cash they gave Zimmer….whether perhaps there would have been a runoff between the only teacher in the race, Alva, and the mendacious Garcia. But evidently Garcia had bought this race long ago in the many ways she nurtures her voters and donors.
Pipe dreams. And now Eli Broad is the big winner and Great Public Schools Now will easily slide into absorbing another 50% of LAUSD real public schools. We the People, the taxpayers, and all the students who will leave the public schools, are finished.
With Melvoin (who has the deepest pockets of the billionaires funding him), Garcia, Gonez (same as to the big money), millionaire charter owner Rodriguez…all charterizers, and McKenna and Vladovic weak sisters who will go along with them, only Shmerelson cares about saving LA public schools. A fait accompli.
No Chiara….you don’t understand that in LA Eli Broad and his band of billionaire bums rule the schools, the teachers, and definitely the administrators and Supt.
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Diane, the LA Times quotes you at the end of this article:
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-lausd-analysis-20170308-story.html
Seems like a balanced piece to me.
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I’ve got some very close friends in LA. They’re very upset about the turnout.
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The turnout was absurdly low. That is what happens when an entire city disengages from public schools. No skin in the game.
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Plays right into the hands of Eli Broad.
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