The LAUSD Board seat for District 5 (or simply, "Sub-district 5" for many) is coming up on TUESDAY, (like all elections), May 17th. If you have absentee ballots, you may have already voted. If you still haven't voted, here's some things to think about if you have this office on your ballot.
Luis Sanchez served as chief-of-staff to Monica Garcia, the LAUSD Board President. From my observations over the years, Garcia's actions show that she's been more loyal to the political force that got her into office, namely, Antonio Villaraigosa.
Garcia, before being elected to this office, was the chief-of-staff to Jose Huizar, and was supported by him to succeed him in office. Huizar left LAUSD for City Council in 2005 as Villaraigosa left CD-14 before completing his term (that he promised he would complete and not run for any other office during the CD-14 campaign). Huizar became thoroughly a follower of Villaraigosa, as he remains today, though not vocalizing that alliance much. Huizar supported Garcia and it's an all "Villaraigosa" influenced "leadership" that they demonstrate.
VOTE FOR KAYSER- a big reason is to stop the downward spiral of LAUSD's performance and get someone that doesn't have the VILLARAIGOSA Agenda as his guide. Villaraigosa, if you remember, put aside attention to mandated duties as mayor of Los Angeles to work on affecting, or really, taking over, LAUSD's operation, The path was a long and costly one in terms of money, time and lost opportunities for the public servants that were involved.
Meanwhile we have a city approaching bankruptcy with a mayor that's been distracted by one thing or another over his entire term of office, yet he has huge influence in moving LAUSD to breakup, a goal of his and his special interest "friends" that I see as benefitting finacially from this.
You have charter schools and assorted partnerships that are not LAUSD controlled being handed brand new multi-million dollar schools, all paid for by the publc from bonds approved by voters many years ago.. I really do not believe approval would have happened if this result had been know at election time. I think it was a plan all along by many involved here.
As I've already stated before, I am not a big fan of LAUSD and the way it operates, but then I am even more skeptical of the charters and alternative forms when they still are finding their ways to improved education of students. I don't think handing over schools over like we are seeing now assures success or the responsibility for such actions.
SANCHEZ would push in this direction as Villaraigosa and friends want that. There's a fortune in contracts and deals in all this, paid for by tax dollars, that is not visible on the surface and it's an unspoken factor in all the changes. I don't see the VILLARAIGOSA influence, and it's there more and more as board members of this alignment win seats.
I think students should come first, not politics. I recall Monica Garcia's statement, to paraphrase it, that she discovered she was Chicana after arriving at Cal State Berkeley. I see she's been into activism as we were seeing in the 60s but we are not in the 60s anymore. Creating issues to support political agendas is part of that "leadership" that produces no real progress with students. Garcia lost all credibility with me when she supported a charter schools continued funding when it had shown severe criticism of anti-U.S. values in favor of more contrary views. (And it's fine to have a different view, but don't take tax money if you are preaching against the things that created what you have and what you seek.)
KAYSER doesn't have that heavy influence of the opponent and the race card has been played to sway things to Sanchez, or so I have heard (it's rumored, so you can skip this if you haven't seen it happening yourself). Any "race" factor in running for offices doesn't seem to me to be part of the Job Description and is a cheap way to win votes- but it often works, so we continue to see it.
KAYSER seems more genuine here as one needed on the Board while SANCHEZ is a "worker bee" for the Villaraigosa/Monica Garcia/Jose Huizar style of misdirected and non-productive "leadership" that costs students in favor of making better deals with "friends" and boosting their egos as they get more power.
VILLARAIGOSA and his administration is what I am most familiar with and I see no positive thing overall happening from his office. On the contrary, so much that is bad government and Pay-to-Play has shown up that is like a virus running through all he's connected with, especially the City Council and the Board folks.
Don't make the situation worse. Vote for Kayser.
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