Crunch Time

“It’s the uncertainty, the challenge and the willingness to put it all on the line that draws a lot of people to climb mountains. That can also apply to a lot of other challenges in life, whether it’s running for office, starting a family, going to grad school or taking all of your cash and assets and starting a business.”

– Mark Udall

Since Saturday, November 11, 2023, the 26 people who filed the “Declaration of Intention to Become a Candidate” form with the Los Angeles City Clerk have been collecting the signatures they need to appear on the March 5, 2024, ballot. If the potential candidates pay a $300 filing fee, they need to submit at least 500 valid signatures from registered voters within their applicable jurisdiction. To avoid the fee they can submit 1,000 valid signatures. The deadline to provide the Clerk with these petitions is Wednesday, December 6, 2023, at 5:00 P.M.

In LAUSD Board District 1, Gloria Zuurveen became the first casualty of this election cycle when she withdrew from the race on November 27, 2023. Her withdrawal leaves 11 people intending to run for the seat that Board Member Dr. George McKenna is vacating with his retirement. These include Sherlett Hendy Newbill, DeWayne Davis, and Didi L. Watts, who have already qualified to appear on the ballot.

Incumbent Scott Mark Schmerelson has still not submitted his Nominating Petition as he prepares to defend his Board District 3 seat. However, two of his seven potential competitors, Elizabeth Badger and Dan Chang, have already received enough signatures to qualify.

Board President Jackie Goldberg is also retiring after this term and four potential candidates obtained nominating petitions to run for her Board District 5 seat. Graciela “Grace” Ortiz is the only one who has already qualified.

Board District 7’s incumbent, Tanya Ortiz Franklin, is also running for reelection and has already qualified for the ballot. She will face Lydia A. Gutierrez if the challenger collects enough signatures.

To date, every LAUSD candidate who has qualified has taken advantage of the ability to pay the $300 filing fee and obtain a lesser number of signatures. Since candidates do not have to declare which option they are choosing until they turn in their petitions, it is unknown if those who have still not qualified already have the minimum number needed and are trying to get more to avoid the fee or if they are struggling to get to 500.

In the two times that I ran for LAUSD Board seats, I found the gathering of signatures to be the most stressful part of the campaigns. It is a time-consuming process that is full of unknowns, most significantly trusting voters that they are correctly registered to vote in the district that you are running in. Most people who sign the petitions are in a rush to get on with their lives and do not always take the time to fill out the form correctly. This can lead to errors, like forgetting to enter the date, which can disqualify the signature. This leads to a guessing game as to how many signatures need to be obtained to meet the threshold.

Signing these petitions does not commit you to voting for the candidate during the election, it only gives them the opportunity to make their case to the voters. As a rule of thumb, I will sign any petition that is presented to me as long as the potential candidate is credibly accused of engaging in criminal activity like John Lee or their platform supports policies, like anti-vax extremism, that would be harmful to children.

The following is a list of the potential candidates who are still actively pursuing a spot on the ballot. The email that they provided to the City Clerk is included so that you can contact them if you want to sign their petition.

District 1

Sherlett Hendy Newbill [email protected]

DeWayne Davis [email protected]

• PROP-39
• SpEd

Daniel Lee [email protected]

Didi Watts [email protected]

John Aaron Brasfield [email protected]

David Mills [email protected]

Kahllid Al-Alim [email protected]

• PROP-39

Danielle Lafayette [email protected]

Christian Flagg [email protected]

Nekishia Lester [email protected]

Qyintus Jett [email protected]

District 3

Elizabeth Badger [email protected]

Dan Chang [email protected], [email protected]

Janie Dam [email protected]

• PROP-39

Andreas Farmakalidis [email protected]

• PROP-39
• SpEd
• Governance

Byron Gutierrez [email protected]

• Governance

Richard Ramos [email protected]

• PROP-39
• SpEd

Scott Schmerelson [email protected]

• PROP-39

Raquel Villalta [email protected]

• PROP-39

District 5

Fidencio Joel Gallardo [email protected]

• SpEd

Karla Griego [email protected]

• PROP-39

Graciela Ortiz [email protected]

Victorio R. Gutierrez [email protected]

District 7

Tanya Franklin [email protected]

Lydia Gutierrez [email protected]

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Carl Petersen is a parent advocate for public education, particularly for students with special education needs, who serves as the Education Chair for the Northridge East Neighborhood Council. As a Green Party candidate in LAUSD’s District 2 School Board race, he was endorsed by Network for Public Education (NPE) Action. Dr. Diane Ravitch has called him “a valiant fighter for public schools in Los Angeles.” For links to his blogs, please visit www.ChangeTheLAUSD.com. Opinions are his own.