Will Accountability Happen Behind Closed Doors?

"I do believe that the public should have a part in the evaluation of the superintendent."

- Scott Schmerelson

With continued red flag warnings keeping Angelenos on edge, the ongoing crisis has greatly affected the country's largest democratically controlled school district. Palisades Charter Elementary and Marquez Charter Elementary were destroyed, other schools are in areas still affected by mandatory evacuations, and poor air quality plagues the entire region.

With criticism of his handling of the crisis mounting, LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho was given time during the January 14, 2025 Board meeting to address concerns. He admitted that plans in place to handle this type of disaster "failed to work adequately" and blamed the problem on the data not matching the conditions on the ground. According to Carvalho, the decision to keep schools open was based on conditions on Tuesday night and these conditions had deteriorated significantly by Wednesday morning.

It is hard to believe that decisions affecting the safety of the district's students were made by staring at data instead of getting a feel for conditions on the ground. As Carvalho was announcing that schools would remain open on Wednesday, hurricane-force winds were blowing throughout the city and many areas were without power. He says that the decision was made based on one fire burning, the one in the Pacific Palisades, but by 6:30 PM another had started in Altadena and soon turned into a conflagration. By 10:30 PM there was also another major fire burning in Sylmar, placing large areas of the northern San Fernando Valley in danger of requiring evacuation.

The LAUSD School Board was scheduled to evaluate the Superintendent's performance at their meeting on January 15th. It is assumed that the failures in leadership were included in this assessment, but we will never know for sure because it was conducted in a closed session.

Before the elected Board Members retreated behind closed doors out of the public's prying eyes, they were required to hear public comment. The following is mine:

It is disappointing that the Superintendent's evaluation is occurring behind closed doors. During yesterday's Board meeting, the District's labor partners pulled no punches as they criticized him for the breakdown in leadership during the ongoing crisis. Parents Supporting Teachers, the largest parent-led education advocacy group in Los Angeles, also issued a press release accusing Carvalho of sacrificing safety and using "our children [as] political theater." They called for his "immediate removal"from leadership in the district." The public should know if the Board accounts for these criticisms as they evaluate the Superintendent.

Even before the current crisis, Carvalho has been criticized for his lack of transparency and his prioritization of publicity over results. For me, this was first evident after the District's computers were infiltrated by Russian hackers. One of his first public comments about that crisis was in front of the Special Education Committee. He not only lied about the extent of that attack but threatened to pursue legal action against anyone who dared to tell the truth.

While Carvalho insisted that no student data had been released, the media uncovered sensitive data about LAUSD students with special education needs on the dark web. This included medical records and other extremely personal information. Interestingly, the Superintendent never returned to speak to the SpEd Committee during my tenure to address the victimization of these families or any other issues facing the Special Education community.

Under Carvalho's leadership, the Community Advisory Committee (CAC) has been eliminated as an independent advisor to this Board. For the past two years, the selection process outlined by the bylaws and state law has been ignored so the District selects the membership instead of the committee's peers. In violation of the law, the SELPA was approved without the required involvement of the CAC. Since the Superintendent's evaluation is conducted in private, the public will never know if these violations were addressed or if anything has been done to ensure they will not be repeated.

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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.