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THE EASTSIDER - I met with Karla last week to go over the issues which distinguish her from her opponent in the Runoff for District 5. For those who don’t know, she’s a Special Education Teacher with 19 years of experience. As a Community School Coordinator with the District, she’s been witness to the rapid gentrification of Northeast LA, as the area got ‘discovered’ a few years ago.
She is also in the mold of Jackie Goldberg, a one off progressive democrat who is retiring from the District 5 position after fighting the good fight for years.
One of her duties is to do an analysis of the demographic changes to the area and make recommendations as to the appropriate mix of resources for schools in the area. Like Jacky, she has always been opposed to the Charter School Industry and it’s financialization of education within the LAUSD.
She’s also been looking into the creeping of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into our educational system and what dangers it may impose on all of us. I haven’t heard any other candidate talk about this serious issue coming [to] our schools, as well as our society at large.
It would be easy but wrong to characterize this runoff as a teacher vs. a Counseling Administrator. The runoff between Karla Griego and Graciela Ortiz as really between an activist looking to ensure that the LAUSD provides a good mix of allocations to all our communities (Griego) vs. the standard political race with one candidate looking for a gig (Ortiz). Read on...
The Issues
With a narrowly split Board of Education, the stakes are high. A victory for Griego would likely continue a 3-2 vote against the Charter School Industry, where Jackle Goldberg pushed back. I am afraid the reverse is likely if Graciela Ortiz wins, since Albert Carvalho (incumbent Super intendant) seems at home with them.
Remember, these are tough times for public education. Declining enrollment continues within the district, with a host of other challenges. If a Charter School advocate wins District 5, there could be more Charter Schools, even as they take money out of the public budget.
Whoever wins, another key issue is that the Board will also be evaluating Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, as he is at a midpoint in his 4 your term. These are high stakes indeed.
It is Interesting that as I write this column, the issue is again before the Board regarding a Charter school named the Lashon Academy. Blogger Carl J. Peterson writes about Charters on Medium, and recently posted that:
“Given the Los Angeles County Office of Education’s (LACOE) emphasis on social justice, it is not surprising that the appointed members of the Board focused on this issue during a hearing last week about the Lashon Academy’s request to expand their operations into a new neighborhood. Concern was expressed about the wide difference in the demographics between the charter school and the public schools it occupies under PROP-39. When pressed, the school’s spokesperson claimed she was unfamiliar with the data leaving the Board’s questions unanswered.”
This promises to be a close race. In fact, it turns out that three of the five current races have wound up in runoffs, which is unusual. You can find a good article on all this at LAIST, which goes into more details about the Board race than I have space.
So, this runoff is not just about contributions to the candidates. It’s really about who will be the best representative for our diverse and rapidly changing population here in Northeast LA. Remember, this was basically a three way primary (excluding Victorio Gutierrez, who was not really funded or active enough to be competitive):
Karla Greigo 36.73%
Graciela Ortiz 28.75%
Fidencio Gallardo 24.56%
Victorio Gutierrez 9.96%
Graciela Ortiz
I’ve already made the case for Karla Griego, so let’s look at her runoff competitor, Graciela Ortiz. Her funding mostly comes from SEIU Local 99, the Union that represents non-certificated employees. They’ve put in over $800,000 towards her campaign during the Primary. They are a good solid Union, but their interests in the LAUSD Board race obviously go more to protecting their turf than policy. With declining enrollment and shrinking funding for the District, I don’t blame them.
I couldn’t find anything about her position on all the issues that we have discussed earlier in this article. That is not necessarily bad, but it does leave a big blank when it goes to her policy ideas involving all the challenges to the District as well as the fate of their current Superintendent.
The only thing I ultimately found out was an LA Times article by Howard Blume which alluded to an action by the District temporarily removing her from her job as a Counseling Administrator pending an internal investigation (she was returned to work). You can find the article here.
The Takeaway
Clearly Griego is best equipped for the job. I was not able to find much information specific to exactly what Graciela Ortiz’s position is on all the issues at the heart of this LAUSD Board election.
The result is going to be pivotal. I have not seen anything regarding Ortiz’ position on either Charter Schools or regarding whether or not she thinks the Superintendent is doing a good job.
In my world covering politics and politicians for Citywatch, if you can’t make the pitch about exactly what you are going to do if you win, you shouldn’t.
(Tony Butka is an Eastside community activist, who has served on a neighborhood council, has a background in government and is a contributor to CityWatch.)
