"If elected, Gentille would vote to end mandates, and bring the COA teachers and students that want to, back to the classroom." -Barkhordarian for School Board 2022
Parents have an important role to play when deciding on implementing education policy. Including issues that are important to parents is what made UTLA's strike so successful in 2019. The litigation initiated by Chanda Smith's family forced the LAUSD to improve the services available to children with special education needs. When the district tried to renege on the promises made to these families by shutting down special education centers another group of parents stepped up and fought to keep them open.
History has also shown that there can be a dark side to parent involvement. The parents who opposed the use of busing to integrate our schools were not interested in being part of a conversation; they wanted to effect change through domination. These are the same tactics that charter schools use when they bus in families to fight against attempts to hold these privately operated schools accountable for the public funding that they receive. It is certainly how anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers operated over the course of the pandemic.
While the absence of any public school parents on the LAUSD Board means that an important voice is missing as policies are made, adding an unqualified parent to the body has the potential of making the governance of the district worse. If that parent is solely motivated by dangerous ideology, then the policies proposed could lead to real harm.
While my endorsement for LAUSD's Board District 4 remains "Anyone But Nick," Gentille Barkhordarian's responses to my lightning round of 20 questions makes it clear that this LAUSD mom does not have what it takes to be a qualified representative of parents on the LAUSD Board. She was either unwilling or unable to take a position on the vast majority of the issues that she was asked about, with the glaring exception being an opposition to vaccine mandates. Additionally, the web page that she provided includes dangerous misinformation including a denial that vaccines help to reduce the spread of COVID-19(*). Tellingly, the only press articles that she links to are from the LA School Report and an interview with OAN, the ultra-right-wing network that caters to an audience that thinks that FOX News is not Trumpy enough.
With Barkhordarian having proven herself not competent for the job and incumbent Nick Melvoin having shown during his first term how far he is willing to go to damage public education, the only choice remaining is Tracey Schroeder. While this candidate is far from perfect, she is also more qualified than her two opponents. If I lived in Board District 4, Schroeder would get my vote.
- 1. Do you have children who are enrolled in LAUSD district schools?
Yes, I have two.
- 2. Do you commit to ensuring that your staff includes parents with children enrolled in district schools?
Yes, that is one of my top priorities in running for this position.
- 3. Is lowering the student-to-staff ratio essential for increasing outcomes?
Absolutely
- 4. Do you support having a nurse assigned full-time to every school?
This will depend on prioritizing projects at a given school; I will need to have more information before I commit to a decision on this, but I vow to get parents' input in doing so.
- 5. Do you support having either a librarian or a library aid assigned full-time to every school?
This will depend on prioritizing projects at a given school; I will need to have more information before I commit to a decision on this, but I vow to get parents' input in doing so.
- 6. Did you support UTLA in 2019 when they went on strike to force the district to provide fundamental improvements for our students?
No, I was not involved.
- 7. Do you agree that every charter school should have similar demographics to the LAUSD public schools in the neighborhood where they are authorized to operate?
I need more information on this before I make a decision.
- 8. Do you agree that the job of an LAUSD School Board Member is to represent children who are enrolled in schools run by the district?
Absolutely, and I would add that we also need to represent parents and honor their choices.
- 9. Do you agree that no LAUSD should be closed without first engaging in a meaningful dialogue with the school community so that alternatives can be found?
I always encourage dialogue, especially when it comes to making decisions about your children, but this question appears a bit vague as to what constitutes a "meaningful" dialogue?
- 10. Do you support allowing LAUSD teachers to take sabbaticals as a way of combating teacher burnout?
Not under the current situation of staffing shortages and dropping enrollments at our schools.
- 11. Do you support enforcing the COVID-19 vaccine mandate that is scheduled to take effect in August?
No, I support parent choice policies when it comes to making medical decisions about your children.
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