LAUSD Candidate Forum: Student Safety

“As a Board Member, my priority would be the health and safety of students and staff.”

– BD1 candidate John Brasfield

In prior months the ongoing Candidate Forum has asked LAUSD School Board candidates questions about PROP-39 co-locations, Special Education policies, and District Governance. For the December edition of the series, the questions focus on student safety issues:

In the wake of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of the police, there was widespread questioning over how law enforcement is handled in this country. The resulting “Defund the Police” movement called for some of the money used for policing to be transferred to programs like mental health services to help address the causes of crime. Following this lead, the block of LAUSD School Board members backed by the charter school industry cut $25 million from the District’s policing budget. This move was criticized by Gilbert Gamez, President of the Los Angeles School Police Association (LASPA). The candidates were asked:

• In non-emergency situations, should uniformed police officers be operating on LAUSD campuses?

There was a series of highly publicized traffic incidents during the last year that drew attention to the dangers students face as they travel to and from school. This included an accident where “a mother was killed, and her 6-year-old daughter was injured when they were hit by a driver in a truck near Hancock Park Elementary School.” While providing safe passage to school, including the hiring of crossing guards, is the only responsibility that the Los Angeles City government has in educating students, the District’s policies and the actions of the LAUSD School Police play a part in keeping students safe. The candidates were asked:

• The Superintendent has commented “that unacceptable and preventable frequency of vehicular incidents are impacting the health, well-being and safety of our children.” Is the District doing enough to prevent these incidents?

School principals have the ultimate responsibility of keeping their campuses safe. However, when a charter school successfully takes space on a public school campus using PROP-39, the LAUSD principal on that school site has no control over the administrators, teachers, or staff members of that organization. The candidates were asked:

• Last year an LAUSD student overdosed on fentanyl that was provided to her by a student at a co-located charter school. Do multiple schools that do not share a common leadership structure increase the possibility that hazards will not be fully mitigated?

An inspection by the LAUSD of the Granada Hills Charter High School campus found numerous violations for the modifications that the charter school had made to the campus without authorization. As a result, a detailed Notice of Violation was sent to Granada. Even though many of these violations had still not been fixed, the LAUSD Board voted unanimously to renew Granada’s charter. The candidates were asked:

While charter schools are required by policy to notify parents when the district issues a Notice of Violation, families at Granada Hills Charter High School were not specifically told that construction projects had endangered “the health and safety of students, staff, and other individuals.” Should the refusal of a charter school to keep parents informed of these types of hazards result in the revocation of the charter?

When I visited an LAUSD campus for a CAC meeting last year I noticed the following sign above one of the sinks:

Similar signs were seen in past years at one of my daughter’s schools. The candidates were asked:

• After a 2008 NBC 4 report exposed the existence of lead In LAUSD Facilities, the District instituted a "stop-gap measure" requiring schools to run “every fountain ‘a minimum of 30 seconds’ before school each day.’” Fifteen years later, the district still warns users of these fixtures to "flush cold water for 30 Seconds prior to use.” As a Board Member would you prioritize removing old fixtures containing lead from all school facilities?

The candidates were asked to reply with a “Yes” or a “No.” The following charts summarize their answers:

The candidates were also allowed to clarify their answers. These are available in the following articles:

Board District 1:

• John Aaron Brasfield

Board District 3:

• Andreas Farmakalidis
• Janie Dam
• Raquel Villalta
• Scott Schmerelson

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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.