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Q&A: Veteran Educator and Board Incumbent Runs for LA School Board District 3

Ben Chapman | October 17, 2024



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Scott Schmerelson

Former LAUSD teacher and principal Scott Schmerelson is running to keep his seat in LA Unified’s Board District 3, covering the West San Fernando Valley and Studio City. 

Schmerelson, who is endorsed by the teachers union, is running for his third consecutive four-year term against upstart Dan Chang, a math teacher with a fondness for charter schools and a propensity for calling out corruption wherever he sees it.  

The hotly contested race is seen as a possible tipping point for the direction of the LAUSD school board, particularly when it comes to Los Angeles’ charter schools, which face new restrictions brought by the union-dominated board last year.   

With almost four decades of working in the classroom, and school counseling and administration, plus nearly a decade on the board, Schmerelson is well acquainted with LA Unified and the challenges it faced by the district.

“I worked all over LAUSD and I look out for all of our kids,” he said in an interview with LA School Report. “I make sure that my schools get the attention that they need, but I am also responsible for the other kids in the district.”

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. 

What’s your top priority for the board, in terms of district-wide issues impacting LAUSD as a whole?

My major goal is to make sure that enrollment starts to increase in LAUSD, because the district needs pupils enrolled in school, and coming every day, in order to be properly funded by the state. And we have lots of incentives in LAUSD for kids who have problems coming to school. We also have to make sure we have the correct pupil services and attendance workers.

How is enrollment in board district three?

Every time I visit my schools, I find I always ask the same question, which is “do we have any new enrollment with our Russian, Armenian and Ukrainian population?” And the answer is always “yes.”

I think these families find someone who speaks their language or who is from their culture. I see them enrolling all the time at my schools. So enrollment is actually increasing in many of our board district three schools.

It’s a different population, but they still have the same social needs, lots of suicidal ideation. Suicidal ideation is my biggest problem

You voted against the cell phone ban the city schools are enacting next year. Why?

When someone hears that I voted “no” on the ban, they think right away that I’m in favor of kids carrying cell phones and using them during class time. That is the furthest thing from the truth.

I believe that cell phones have a purpose. We also have a policy already on the books about non-use of cell phones in the classroom during instructional time, and I absolutely support my teachers in that.

I believe that cell phones should be off and put away during instructional time. But God forbid there’s an emergency. All parents want to hear from their kids. Parents are so nervous today because of school shootings, because of fires, because of earthquakes.

So, I think it’s a valuable tool to have in an emergency, but not during class.

What’s the role of the police in ensuring student safety for LAUSD?

Once George McKenna retires, I’ll be the only board member on LAUSD who supports school police.

But it’s not only school police. I support safety at our schools, full stop. I insist on having adequate numbers of campus aids and school climate advocates — that’s a new program where we’re looking out for potential problems.

But, listen, there’s only one category that has to protect life and limb, that has to come in to protect people and school property, and that’s school police. No one else is supposed to disarm someone. It’s school police who do that, and I believe school communities have the right to decide whether or not they want to have the police on campus.

You voted in favor of the controversial limits on charter collocations passed last year. How is that working out?

Not very well. Not only do kids have problems sharing, but adults have problems sharing, too. Prop 39 is really not working very well in LAUSD schools at all. I prefer that we avoid Prop 39 colocations whenever possible.

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