"Just saying engagement over and over again does not make it engagement."
- LAUSD Parent in 2018
As one of his last acts before being forced from office, Ref Rodriguez helped to reelect Monica Garcia as the LAUSD Board President. This kept the block of members elected with the support of the Charter School Industry in control of the District's direction even as the board operated at a 3 - 3 deadlock with its three members matched by three members who supported public education.
The public demanded that former Board Member Jackie Goldberg be appointed to fill the convicted felon's seat until a special election could be held, but Rodriguez' allies Nick Melvoin and Garcia joined with Richard Vladovic to block this proposal. The residents of Board District 5 would go unrepresented for almost a year while the election process played out.
One result of this lack of representation was a strike by UTLA, the union representing teachers. Rather than meet with their employees and negotiate a solution, Melvoin and Garcia traveled to Sacramento attempting to get legislatures to force the union to settle. The effort failed and school employees walked off the job.
The charter school block saw the strike as an opportunity to break the union, counting on the District's parents turning on their children's teachers. Instead, they kept their children home from school, brought coffee to the picket lines, and marched with them in the rain. The District caved within a week.
One of the reasons for the union's success was they had built coalitions with parents, many of whom felt ignored by the School Board, the Superintendent, and the District's bureaucrats. By including demands that were important to parents alongside demands for a pay increase, UTLA made them partners in a fight that would change the long-term direction of the District.
Rather than learn their lesson, Melvoin and Garcia sought to reduce opportunities for parents to give input. A proposal I submitted to the Board would have increased the accessibility of Board meetings to the public. Melvoin laughed at my efforts and instead worked in secret (in violation of the Brown Act) to change the Board's rules. This included reducing the public speaking time from three to two minutes.
Due to pressure from public education advocates, Melvoin was forced to remove the new time limit from his proposed rules. However, the victory was short-lived. Sometime during the last term, the majority elected by Public Education advocates quietly reduced the time. The speaking time on current agendas is two minutes.
This is just one way that engagement has eroded in recent years. Parents of children with Special Education needs were kept in the dark as Russian hackers stole sensitive information. The District ended the successful Primary Promise literacy program without any input from parents or teachers. During the recent firestorm crisis, information about school closures was allegedly held from school communities until Superintendent Carvalho could announce the information at a press conference.
The Special Education community has been particularly affected by this reduced engagement as I noted in my comments at last month's Special Education Committee meeting:
I was glad to receive the updated agenda showing that Ms. Griego has been added to this committee. Her experience as a Special Education teacher will bring a valuable voice to these proceedings. Now the only person missing is a representative from the Community Advisory Committee. Under state law, the purpose of the CAC is to advise the District on Special Education policy. Given that this is the Board's Special Education Committee, shouldn't a presentation from the CAC be a part of each meeting's agenda?
One of the subjects on today's agenda was "Parent and Community Engagement Opportunities for Families of Students with Disabilities." Like most Committee Presentations, this was given by a District staffer. Because committee members were allowed to ask questions, District leadership will pat themselves on the back feeling that they could count it as another example of engagement, but was it?
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