One adjective keeps coming up during interviews with education advocates and insiders about Joan Sullivan: Determined. As the Deputy Mayor for Education in Los Angeles for the last three years, Sullivan was determined to keep Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s education agenda moving forward, say those who’ve worked with her — despite political and policy setbacks, budget cuts,...

Jowled and affable, David Tokofsky is the kind of guy who can’t get in the door of Camilo’s California Bistro before being recognized and greeted by other patrons and distributing handshakes to the waitstaff. Officially, the 53 year-old Eagle Rock resident is a part-time consultant for the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles (AALA), the school...