A Tale of Three School Boards — The community came full circle one weekend ago when it packed Washington High School’s auditorium to install George McKenna as its representative on the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Board of Directors in a joyous ceremony and celebration the likes of which South Los Angeles hasn’t had in my lifetime — and I’m old! Everybody was there!!
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He’s In — George McKenna is congratulated by U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters after being administered the oath of office for his school board seat by Kennedy Mitchell Egbo, the 8-year-old grandson of the recently deceased community icon Brenda Marsh-Mitchell. Photo, Haywood Galbreath.
Mr. McKenna’s swearing-in was a fitting ending to a bitter fight between the people and the politicians. By golly, we won, and we celebrated our victory by vowing to win again and again and again — now that we know how. The event featured a marching band, a Los Angeles school police honor guard, a children’s choir, New Orleans 2nd Line Dancers, and invocations, prayers and benedictions by leaders of several religious denominations.
It is ironic that the event was held on Mr. McKenna’s birthday, and at Washington High, whom several speakers noted is “the house that George McKenna built” because of his stellar performance as that school’s principal back in the day. The loser, who unsuccessfully tried to sully Mr. McKenna’s impeccable reputation, had more money than God at his disposal as he was backed by for-profit entities whose sights were/are set on grabbing underperforming public schools and turning them into cash-producing charter schools to swell their individual coffers. Mr. McKenna’s underfunded campaign stressed retaining those campuses and turning them into high performing public schools. He’s mantra was to turn “bad schools” into “good schools,” a process with which he is well acquainted, since he is noted for having done so in the past.
A large assortment of community leaders and federal, state and local elected officials came to praise Mr. McKenna the other day, as well as the people of the 1st District who tabled their pet peeves that had heretofore divided them, and banded together to put Mr. McKenna in office. They repeated the theme “We will not be bought” that reverberated throughout the nasty campaign against Mr. McKenna. Rep. Waters threw down the gauntlet and triggered a riotous ovation during the ceremony when she warned the losers: “Don’t bring this kind of trash to our community again!”
Carolyn Fowler did an excellent job in coordinating the swearing-in celebration and the entire Team McKenna campaign staff is to be congratulated for a long, hard job well done. I, for one, look forward to doing it again when Mr. McKenna seeks election to his own full term in March.
Almost immediately following the swearing-in celebration, the Westchester-Playa Democratic Club held its “We’re All in This Together” annual summer celebration at which it honored Rep. Waters.
The Lesser School Board — The board of directors of the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE), the entity that black-operated Headstart programs (which no longer exist) and charter schools (which are fighting to continue their existence) have come to hate, has undergone a change, as well. LACOE is currently under federal investigation for its closure of the venerable Kedren Headstart in June and the assigning of its contract to white-run CII. WAYS. Another black-operated charter school has either filed a lawsuit or is preparing a lawsuit against its perceived mistreatment by LACOE.
Shortly after his defeat by Mr. McKenna for the LAUSD District 1 seat, Alex Johnson was appointed to the LACOE board by his former boss, Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas. Unlike the LAUSD Board of Education, LACOE’s board members are not elected by the people and are appointed by the county supervisors. We don’t know their appointees, and we have no say about them. Since Mr. Ridley-Thomas failed to get Mr. Johnson, his education aide, elected to the LAUSD board, he removed Rudell Freer, the only African American and the longest-serving member of the LACOE board, and replaced her with Mr. Johnson. Ms. Freer was originally appointed by retired Supervisor Yvonne Burke and has served on that board for many years. I understand Ms. Freer is not happy about this. We must do lunch and talk about it.
Mr. Johnson cannot work for a Los Angeles County supervisor and sit on the LACOE board.He had to give up his job with Mr. Ridley-Thomas to take his seat on the board. But that’s alright. His former boss, Mr. Ridley-Thomas, got him a gig with the supervisor’s best friend, Marian Wright Edelman, the founder and president of the Children’s Defense Fund. Beginning last Friday, Mr. Johnson is the executive director of CDF-California, the state affiliate of the Children’s Defense Fund. That’s alright with me. The CDF is a commendable 40-year-old non-profit child advocacy organization that has worked to improve the lives of children. I’d much rather see him do that than mess with the public school system that I’m paying for.
The Nadir of School Boards –The Compton School Board voted last week not to hold a community meeting on its approval of an urban rifle policy that would allow the Compton school police to arm themselves with AR-15 assault rifles on school campuses. Is that not the sickest thing you’ve ever heard? The board approved this atrocity in secret. When it got out, Rep. Janice Hahn ordered that a public discussion of the issue be conducted. The community meeting was scheduled to be held at Roosevelt Middle School, but the Compton School Board voted “no, they’re not having such a meeting.” Now, Compton’s community and labor groups are trying to find a facility large enough for the crucial meeting they want and need to hold. They are also calling for the recall of the six School Board members who voted against the community meeting: Micah Ali, president; Charles Davis, Skyy Fisher, Margie Garrett, Mae Thomas and Satra Zuria. These people must own stock in an assault rifle factory.
Don’t get me started on the Inglewood Unified School District’s board.
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