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The 50-member UTLA Board of Directors [BOD] has recommended to the union’s House of Representatives that they endorse school board member Steve Zimmer, according to a teacher speaking to LA School Report on condition of anonymity, and it has also recommended that the House of Representatives endorse a handful of acceptable candidates in Districts 2 (Central and East Los Angeles) and 6 (East San Fernando Valley) “in order  to have some flexibility in case some of the candidates don’t qualify.”

The BOD is recommending more than one candidate because several of the candidates have not yet turned in the 500 signatures needed to qualify for the March ballot. The deadline to do so is 5 pm Wednesday December 5. Roughly an hour later, the 350-member House of Representatives is set to endorse candidates.

Presumably, the union will eventually narrow its endorsements down to one candidate per race. However, the endorsements could theoretically change or become contentious. Ballots are due December 11 for contested House of Representatives races, which include an unknown number of candidates affiliated with a reform-friendly caucus within UTLA called newTLA. The 2013-2015 House of Representatives will begin serving its term next month.

According to our source, the House of Representatives more often than not agrees with the recommendation of the Board of Directors.

Previous posts: Signatures Due Tomorrow, Internal Elections for UTLA Leadership, Union Representatives Deadline