EDUCATION POLITICS-That nutty LA school board is at it again.
Nearly five years ago, the school board passed a resolution saying local car washes should support any unionizing efforts by their employees. I opined back then that since the Los Angeles Unified School District had such a dismal record of running its own business (the graduation rate was then the second worst in the nation at 41 percent), the school board had absolutely no moral authority to instruct others how to run theirs.
But hey, at least the car washes were local. The school board recently passed a similar resolution about a company in Fresno, more than 200 miles away. And a company the district apparently doesn’t even have a contract with.
Nonetheless, the school board took time to vote (it was 6-0 with one abstention) on a resolution that calls on the board to be updated on any labor practices by Gerawan Farming just in case it tries to sell any food to the district. Board member Steve Zimmer, who sponsored the resolution, reportedly said it was meant to convey that the board will “stand with the United Farm Workers in this contract fight.”
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It’s sad the school board got suckered in by the UFW’s lobbying. Gerawan has a long and complex relationship with the UFW; there’s a significant question whether the workers at Gerawan even want the union. A decertification election was held a couple of years ago, but the union has blocked the vote from being counted.
For the LA school board to wag its finger in Gerawan’s face is like Donald Sterling lecturing you about the importance of good race relations.
And while the district, to its credit, has improved its graduation rate, it is still an operation so inept that it can’t get iPads to its students without scandal. Oh, and remember that teacher who fed his semen to students? It turns out that the district had been alerted to his bizarre behavior for decades but apparently didn’t take much action. Too busy looking for businesses to criticize, apparently.
(Charles Crumpley is the Editor of the Los Angeles Business Journal. This piece was posted earlier at FoxandHoundsDaily.com)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 13 Issue 17
Pub: Feb 27, 2015
