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Imelda Padilla scores endorsements from two former competitors in LAUSD school board bid
Imelda Padilla has secured endorsements from two former competitors in her bid for the LA Unified seat representing the east San Fernando Valley. Araz Parseghian, who came in fourth out of six contenders in the March 7 primary, announced on social media Saturday he is supporting Padilla. Padilla said Monday that she also has the...
By Sarah Favot | April 3, 2017
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LAUSD Valley seat gets the heat: Early campaign spending in runoff shifts from west side to Valley
Early campaign spending in the LA Unified school board runoff election has shifted to the open seat in the San Fernando Valley from the west side race, which dominated the primary election. Three weeks into the May 16 runoff contest, outside groups have spent nearly five times as much on the District 6 race compared...
By Sarah Favot | March 29, 2017
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JUST IN: Arne Duncan endorses Melvoin and Gonez in LAUSD races
*UPDATED Barack Obama’s former Education Secretary Arne Duncan threw his support Wednesday to two pro-reform candidates in the LA Unified school board race. Duncan, who was appointed secretary of education by Obama in 2009, endorsed Nick Melvoin who is running against school board President Steve Zimmer, and is backing Kelly Gonez against Imelda Padilla in...
By Mike Szymanski | March 29, 2017
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Exclusive: Can Mónica García bring her success of unifying a ‘struggling district’ to all of LAUSD?
Mónica García started this month’s school board meeting day with an 8 a.m. visit to one of her schools. At 9 she joined the board’s closed session meeting, eating her lunch while it extended right up to the public afternoon meeting. Between votes, she could be found talking to concerned parents in the hallway outside...
By Mike Szymanski | March 27, 2017
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Final election results show voter turnout in LA races was 21 percent
The final votes in the March 7 primary election have been tallied and the results show about 21 percent of the city’s eligible voters cast ballots, LA County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan said Tuesday. Turnout countywide was 17 percent. Only one of the three seats up for election on the LA Unified school board was...
By Sarah Favot | March 21, 2017
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I’m not a Trump guy! Nick Melvoin wants to meet as many voters as possible to set the record straight before May’s general election
A black-and-white photograph of President John F. Kennedy hangs on the wall of Nick Melvoin’s small office, which is the nerve center of his campaign headquarters in Venice’s trendy tech neighborhood. Kennedy’s on the phone, one hand covering part of his pained face. Melvoin, 31, often looks up from his folding-table desk at the iconic photo...
By Sarah Favot | March 17, 2017
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Gonez widens her lead while Melvoin narrows Zimmer’s lead, updated vote count shows
Kelly Gonez widened her lead in District 6 and Nick Melvoin narrowed Steve Zimmer’s lead in District 4, according to an updated vote count Tuesday in last week’s LA Unified school board primary. The lineup for the May 16 runoff remains the same. The primary election results aren’t final as LA County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean...
By Sarah Favot | March 14, 2017
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California ed advocate Bill Lucia on the importance of school board races, local control and closing the achievement gap
Local school boards can be prone to blaming their woes on decisions coming out of Sacramento or saying their hands are tied by the California Board of Education. But the state no longer pulls the strings and local districts wield significant power, a California education advocate says. “The days of micromanaging are gone,” said Bill...
By Mike Szymanski | March 14, 2017
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Exclusive: Why Gregory Martayan with only 7% of the primary vote could swing the balance of LAUSD
LA Unified’s newest power broker is the guy who finished last. Whomever Gregory Martayan throws his support behind in the District 4 school board runoff could determine the outcome of the key race — and that race has the power to shift the balance of the board overseeing the nation’s second-largest school district. Martayan was...
By Sarah Favot | March 13, 2017
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Exclusive: Allison Holdorff Polhill comes out swinging against Steve Zimmer’s ‘misleading’ campaign tactics, vows to throw support to Melvoin in unseating board president
Allison Holdorff Polhill, who fell short of making the runoff by about 10,000 votes, said Wednesday the biggest challenges she faced in her campaign were misrepresentations about charter schools and the attempts that were made to align her with Donald Trump and U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. “I am woefully disappointed in Steve Zimmer’s...
By Sarah Favot | March 8, 2017