The Los Angeles Unified School District board has shown less division and more cooperation in recent years than it did a decade ago, when candidates backed by charter schools were often at odds with those backed by the teachers union.
Perhaps the change was prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which required an all-hands-on-deck approach. He has helped the Supt. Alberto Carvalho will solidify his office's control over the district, with the board playing a more discreet role, but that could change, depending on the outcome of this year's elections. We have long believed that the board should set a broad policy and let the superintendent carry it out.
Only two candidates are on the March ballot to represent board District 7, which stretches from South Los Angeles to San Pedro: incumbent Tanya Ortiz Franklin, who is seeking a second term; and eternal rival Lydia Gutiérrez, a Long Beach elementary school teacher. Franklin, a former LAUSD teacher and Partnership for Los Angeles Schools administrator, is the best choice.
She has helped make the board a calm, well-run group that operates through collaboration and common sense rather than ideology. Although her campaign is backed by the charter and reform movement, she speaks enthusiastically about how much she has learned from her fellow board member Jackie Goldberg, associated with United Teachers Los Angeles.
Franklin wanted to create a new policy to grade students based on their mastery of class material, not whether they completed all assignments or behaved in class. Perhaps for a science class, a student could give a presentation instead of writing a paper. With Goldberg's support and advice, she said, she rewrote her proposal as an option for teachers, not a mandate. That would help empower teachers rather than forcing them to do something that might not work for them or the subjects they teach. The resolution was approved.
This approach will do much more for the district than, for example, its ill-considered requirement that all students pass college preparatory courses in order to graduate, which has contributed to grade inflation.
Of course, not everything in LAUSD is on track. Carvalho wanted to move away from the successful Primary Promise program, which provides intensive tutoring to very young students in reading and math, and adopt a less intensive approach but at more grade levels. Primary Promise, started by the previous superintendent, is one of the few Los Angeles Unified initiatives that makes a measurable difference in student learning. It remains to be seen whether Carvalho's approach will work. Grade inflation continues to plague the district; A Times analysis showed that the vast majority of students earn A's, B's and C's, although only a fraction have mastered the state standards.
But the new emphasis on community schools that offer a wide range of services to students, families and neighborhoods is a bright spot for the district. So were decisions to direct resources where they are needed most, such as the Black Student Achievement Plan. The district is much more responsive to the needs of underserved students and families than it was about a decade ago.
If he wins a second term, Franklin will have a higher position on the board. He should use that to address grade inflation with mastery grades. If children do not master the material, they and their parents have a right to know based on their grades. You should closely monitor whether this Primary Promise change is working for students and don't hesitate to ask for it to be reversed if it isn't.
There is a lot of urgent work ahead for LAUSD. Franklin is the right candidate to take on that job.
