Looking Back At Scott Schmerelson's Nine Years On The School Board

“The political process does not end on Election Day. Young people need to stay involved in the process by continuing to pay attention to the conversation and holding their leaders accountable for the decisions they make.”

– Patrick Murphy

I vividly remember sitting in Scott Schmerelson’s living room the night of May 19, 2015. The polls had just closed and I had gathered with others who had volunteered with his campaign and anxiously awaited the results. Excitement grew as the night wore on and it became clearer that Scott had done the Impossible: David had slain Goliath. Despite the advantages of incumbency and the financial backing of the Charter School Industry, Tamar Galatzan was no longer my representative on the Los Angeles School Board.

For me, the path to this victory had started almost two years earlier in a conference room high atop the District's Beaudry Headquarters. My wife and I had spent two days hashing out an agreement to resolve our complaints about how our daughters' Special Education needs were being handled. While we eventually did reach agreements, the process exposed a system where students’ interests were not being put first. Before leaving, we had both decided that I would run for a seat on the LAUSD School Board.

Due to the combined efforts of five opponents, Galatzan failed to earn over 50% of the vote and was forced into the runoff with Scott. Recognizing that Scott was more supportive of Special Education and our public schools, I immediately endorsed him with a promise to work as hard for his campaign as I would have if I had secured a place in the General Election.

As I sat on Scott's couch feeling pride in the part I had played in his victory, I had a front-row view as power changed hands. The first visitor was UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl who worked the room like a seasoned politician before meeting privately with the newly elected school Board member. Next up was Jefferson Crain, the LAUSD’s Executive Officer, who arrived to meet with Schmerelson behind closed doors. Even as we sat In his living room, Scott was being separated from his constituents as he became Board Member Schmerelson.

The thrill of victory did not last long; the following morning, it became apparent that a second incumbant had fallen in the election. While the Charter School industry had lost Galatzan’s seat, their candidate, future-felon Ref Rodriguez, had defeated Bennet Kaiser, the Board’s harshest critic of their publicly funded private schools. After all the work put into electing Schmerelson, the makeup of the Board would not change.

As part of the Board’s minority, Schmerelson had little hope of forcing reform, but the seat did give him a megaphone to amplify focus on issues facing the District. Unfortunately, this was not a role to which the rookie Board Member was suited. While his credentials as an educator are impeccable, he was not a natural politician. As a school principal, his easy-going style had served him well. In his new role, the vultures on the Board were eating him alive. The animosity between him and former Board Member Monica Garcia was often visible as they sat beside each other on the Board’s dais.

In 2017 I rented a room in East L.A. to run for the seat held by Garcia. While Schmerelson privately supported my long-shot candidacy against his nemesis, he abided by the unwritten rule that Board Members should not publicly oppose their colleagues. Garcia had no such respect for tradition and endorsed Schmerelson’s opponent in his bid for reelection in 2020. Current School Board Member Tanya Ortiz Franklin, who, like Garcia, received funding for her campaign from the Charter School Industry, has endorsed Dan Chang against Schmerelson in the current election.

Looking back on the past nine years, it is frustrating that many of the issues that formed the basis of my candidacy still plague the district. Special Education Centers like Locrantz are still fighting for survival, charter schools are still not adequately regulated, and School Board meetings are still held when most parents, teachers, and students cannot participate. This lack of progress sometimes makes it easy to forget some of the victories that Schmerelson has achieved during his first term:

• While most politicians abandoned the residents of Porter Ranch during the early days of the historic gas leak, Schmerelson’s advocacy on their behalf stood out. His efforts to relocate two neighboring elementary schools as quickly as possible while minimizing how students were disrupted were heroic.
• When the Charter School Industry-backed majority hid their efforts to hire Austin Beutner behind closed doors without public input it was Schmerelson who called them out. As a result, forces aligned with Nick Melvoin filed a complaint with the District Attorney.
• Schmerelson was the first Board Member to support the Teachers’ Union (UTLA) during their 2019 strike. His breaking with Beutner and the anti-union majority on the School Board helped to ensure a quick resolution to the impasse minimizing the disruption to students. As a result of the strike, class sizes were reduced, every school has a full-time nurse and every secondary school has a librarian five days a week.

After supporting Schmerelson’s bid for re-election in 2020 and defending him against anti-Semitic attacks by the California Charter School Association, I was hoping that the win would embolden him. Unfortunately, I became increasingly disillusioned with his lack of fight.

For the first time since the 2015 primary election, I did not endorse or vote for Schmerelson in March 2024 hoping that a candidate with the ability to fight for public education would emerge. Instead, his opponent in November will be Dan Chang, another shill for the charter school industry who brags about his role in privatizing Locke High School even though the California Charter School Association (CCSA) gave the charter school a Statewide Rank of one out of ten while he was involved in its management. While Schmerelson has not lived up to my expectations, without a doubt a win by his opponent would be much worse for the students of the District. Let’s hope Schmerelson gets another four years.

_________

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.