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Zimmer still angry about Rodriguez campaign but vows to work together
Drinking too much at a work dinner or hitting on a co-worker’s spouse can make things truly uncomfortable at the office. But what about publicly damning a future colleague before his first day on the job? That’s the situation LA Unified school board Vice President Steve Zimmer faces, now that Ref Rodriguez has defeated his good...
By Vanessa Romo | May 22, 2015
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Rodriguez win a reform anomaly, AALA opens ‘me too’ negotiations
Ref Rodriguez is an anomaly not only for becoming the first candidate backed by the state charter schools to win a seat on the LA Unified board. He’s an anomaly for winning at a time of mayoral disengagement with public education. That’s the view of Ben Austin, political director for Students Matter, the Vergara people,...
By LA School Report | May 21, 2015
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Analysis: For the LAUSD board, changes in faces but not balance
* UPDATED Voters wanted change, but the changes came from opposite directions. For the first time since 2009, two seats on the LA Unified school board turned over at the same time in elections yesterday that proved once again how little Angelinos care about the people setting policy for the 643,000 kids attending city public...
By Michael Janofsky | May 20, 2015
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Buoyed by millions, Rodriguez beats Kayser for District 5 board seat
In the most of expensive and vitriolic of all three LA Unified board races, Bennett Kayser lost to Ref Rodriguez in the battle to represent District 5. Shortly after polls closed Rodriguez cemented an early lead, and Kayser, who had hoped for a second term, was never able to catch up. “This is a historic victory, as...
By Vanessa Romo | May 20, 2015
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Zimmer ‘damns’ Rodriguez and his supporters for attacks on Kayser
* UPDATED If Ref Rodriguez wins election tomorrow, he’s got no friend in Steve Zimmer. Rodriguez is the challenger in the race for LA Unified school board District 5 against Bennett Kayser, easily the most heated of the three board elections. A loss by Kayser could shift the ideological balance of the seven member board...
By Vanessa Romo | May 18, 2015
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Audit of school connected to board candidate stirs political waters
The release of an audit of a charter school co-founded by school board candidate Ref Rodriguez is heating up the waters of the already boiling LA Unified District 5 school board race. One day after reports emerged that a school board member, Monica Garcia, tried to delay the release of the audit, conducted by the district’s Office...
By Craig Clough | April 30, 2015
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Anti-Rodriguez ‘issue’ flyers draw complaints from charter group
The California Charter Schools Association political action committee says it has filed complaints against the teachers union PAC for not reporting spending on material attacking Ref Rodriguez, the charter school executive who is challenging school board incumbent Bennett Kayser in LA Unified’s District 5 runoff on May 19. The charter group, which is spending heavily...
By LA School Report | April 24, 2015
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Can a $25,000 giveaway increase voter turnout in District 5?
Despite hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on the race by supporters, voter turnout in the District 5 LA Unified school board primary in March was pretty dreadful, with only 12 percent of registered voters coming to the polls. But now a nonprofit dedicated to getting more Latinos to the polls seems to think a...
By Craig Clough | April 20, 2015
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Rodriguez opens big money lead over Kayser in District 5 campaign
With the May 19 runoff elections five weeks from tomorrow, Ref Rodriguez has opened a huge money lead over incumbent Bennett Kayser for the District 5 school board seat. Rodriguez, a charter school official, has built a nearly 3-to-1 edge in individual contributions, raising $26,896 to Kayser’s $9,575 through April 4, the latest figures from...
By LA School Report | April 13, 2015
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Charter group makes initial spend for Rodriguez LAUSD board seat
They’re off… and spending. Over the last 10 days the California Charter School Association political action committee has resumed pumping in money to help Ref Rodriguez win the District 5 seat on the LA Unified school board in the May 19 runoff. The group has spent $18,347 on two flier mailings and one phone banking session....
By Vanessa Romo | March 30, 2015