The LA Unified school board on Tuesday is expected to approve a list of proposed responsibilities and job qualifications for a temporary, non-voting board member to fill the seat of Marguerite LaMotte, who died in December. The recommendations grew out of a meeting this week chaired by Steve Zimmer, the most vocal school board member to support installing an interim...

Only two LA Unified school board members hold law degrees: Tamar Galatzan and Monica Ratliff. But Steve Zimmer, a college professor, did a pretty good impression of a lawyer last night. Zimmer presided over an ad hoc “committee of one” — no other board members attended — that was charged with defining the role and scope...

Emerging as something of a Shakespearean figure, LA Unified School Board trustee Steve Zimmer took central stage earlier this week at a long board meeting complete with its share of sound and fury. Zimmer, facing one of the most challenging moments in his political career, had been publicly cryptic about his position on the evening’s...

If the editorial boards of Los Angeles area newspapers were charged with filling the vacant LA Unified school board seat left by the sudden death of Marguerite LaMotte, it would be easy: they are unanimous in that finding a successor should come through a special election, rather than an appointment. But politics is never easy,...

The sides are digging in. With the holidays offering no break for the forces pushing to fill the vacant LA Unified school board’s District 1 seat, factions have firmly aligned behind US Representative Maxine Waters, for an appointment, and LA County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, for an election. Whatever the six board members decide at a...