Candidate for
Board Member; Los Angeles Unified School District; District 3

While the mayor and teacher's union fight it out over who will control the schools, they both back status-quo candidates who continue to put forth the same mix of "old school" reform ideas that put LAUSD in this position in the first place.

Nowhere in all the dialog and battles that are taking place is there any mention of student academic motivation or modernizing curriculum. While they seemingly advocate the idea of expanded parent involvement and choice, it is still toward the same end of facilitating conformity and compliance to the existing standards, school structure and questionable assessment schemes. Even the press seems to buy in to this hopeless scenario by focusing on the "money" candidates, those with campaign funding sources that will allow them high visibility in the upcoming elections

It is not hard to become dismayed at the apparent lack of genuine expertise in sound teaching and learning principles exhibited by the major players in this battle. If we merely want to administrate the current standards-based system, fine- but shouldn't we at least know exactly what those standards are and how they came about? Similarly, if modernization and creation of a more relevant and meaningful curriculum is the goal, we better know what we are scrapping, and we must involve all stakeholders- teachers, parents, students and community in the process of true reform.

It's clear that the current administration will not be able do either without the expertise and knowledge of disciplined educators who know the standards, the history by which they came about, and the science underlying teaching, learning and student motivation.