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Steve Zimmer and Monica Garcia flank LA Mayor Eric Garcetti
It wasn’t by accident that all seven LA Unified school board members happened to be at this morning’s press conference with the mayor, the sheriff, the police chief and superintendent as they announced closing the schools today.
The school board had already plan to continue closed-door deliberations to select a superintendent to succeed Ramon Cortines. His last official day in office was Friday, but when he came in to the press conference this morning in a sweat shirt, yellow cap, jeans and tennis shoes — very uncharacteristic for a man known for his natty suits and bow ties. He began his remarks, joking, “I have retired and returned now for the fourth time.”
The board’s scheduled meeting was eclipsed by the school closings. Early on, board President Steve Zimmer and member Mónica García joined in, translating news into Spanish.
Then, all the school board members showed up at a 10 a.m. press conference with the major police officials in the county.
There had been some hints that maybe the school board would announce a decision about the superintendent today, but that now seems even more unlikely than it had been. The board was continuing its search discussions, awaiting any further developments on the threat assessment.