Q&A: Former Basketball Coach and Dean Runs for LA School Board District 1
Daniella Lake | October 15, 2024
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Former basketball coach and dean Sherlett Hendy Newbill, is running to represent L.A. Unified’s Board District 1, encompassing much of South LA, such as Crenshaw, Koreatown and Mid-City.
District 1 is also home to Newbill’s high school basketball alma mater which she said opened the doors to her becoming a first generation college student at Xavier University.
Newbill has 25 years of experience within the district and currently works as an education policy advisor for District 1 school board incumbent, Dr. George McKenna. Newbill started off at LAUSD as a basketball coach before becoming a teacher at her alma mater, Dorsey High School. As a teacher, she taught physical education and sports psychology.
Newbill is endorsed by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and the Los Angeles County Democratic Party. In an interview with LA School report, Newbill shared her thoughts on charter school co-locations, her hopes for the Black Student Achievement Plan and her experience as a student in District 1.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Can you share what some of your top priorities are if you were to be elected onto the board and about the changes you want to see in those areas?
Safety for our schools and making sure that each school has a voice in that safety plan.
But within that, being able to continue to provide wraparound services, mental health services, I think those are all under the umbrella of safety for our students.
And then the other piece is making sure that our Black Student Achievement Plan, is, for lack of a better word, untouched. Making sure that is something that we really strive for, that [students] have these opportunities there for them and that it closes the gap.
Another top priority is apprenticeships. Within our school, I do believe that we should have pipelines to career and college. Working closely with those entities that provide traditional and non-traditional apprenticeship programs and internship programs is really critical, and making sure that they’re available to all of our students.
What are your thoughts on the role of police in school safety, and do you think that police should be at schools that request them?
I do believe police should be at the schools that request them. Is that necessary across the district? I don’t believe so. I don’t believe that there’s a cookie cutter response to that. I believe that each school, because each school is different, has different entities that they need.
This year, LAUSD banned charter schools from nearly half of its school buildings. Do you support the new limits on charter school co-locations?
I do support that limit because primarily there needs to be an oversight to why charter schools were created. I think it has been way too long that we have not held it to the standard in which it was created.
Many of our charters today, co-located, are offering the same opportunities as the community public school. So you’re now in competition for the same students, which doesn’t bring about the harmony that we’re looking for, the rigor or the innovation that it was intended for. So my stance is — let’s review. Let’s look at each charter. Let’s look at each co-location. Is it taking away resources from that school in order to create another school within a school? So it’s a case by case situation.
Earlier you mentioned the Black Student Achievement Program. What are some of the specific opportunities and programs that you want to help create, or that you want to see expand in LAUSD schools?
Within the Black Student Achievement Plan, there are many things that are ongoing right now that we want to continue. One being the exposure to Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Students now in their junior year get an opportunity to go on a Black college tour, so it gives them an opportunity to have that exposure, as well as providing internships. Expanding that opportunity would be great for our Black students. I think representation matters, so having them be exposed to other African Americans in various professions.
It is important within the Black Student Achievement Plan to be able to expand those opportunities for those students, as well as giving them the resources to close the gap in academics [that] they typically would have been stereotyped as unsuccessful.
What sets you apart from other candidates running for the school board?
I’m a daughter of immigrant parents — that’s really important to this community and to this school board, considering that many of our students have immigrant parents.
My parents were born in Central America. I was the only one born here. There were times there was fear that my family would be deported and I would be left here. And so to be able to empathize in that way separates me from many who run for the seat.
And then being a parent with school aged children in a family with me and my husband working together, I think is different than many school board members.
Just being a part of this community and a product of this community, I’m born and bred here in board District 1. I went to school in Board District 1, started in 24th Street School and graduated from Dorsey High School.
This article is part of a collaboration between The 74 and the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.