Champion is a verb.
As one of the government bodies that is closest to the people, local School Boards are often thought of as the most accessible for aspiring politicians. Get a few hundred dollars in donations so you can print up some yard signs, and you can see your name on the ballot. Network with enough parents and teachers, and you might even win.
Los Angeles definitely does not fall into this mold. It is the country's largest school district with an elected school board and has biannual races that are hotly contested by the Charter School Industry and the unions representing the district's employees. Millions can be spent in some races trying to sway the voters. Even in less contested races, hundreds of thousands of dollars can be spent.
Given the high stakes of these elections, it is surprising how many candidates jump into Los Angeles School Board races without building a reputation beforehand. If the plan is to convince voters that you are capable of leading a district that serves hundreds of thousands of students, shouldn't you be able to prove that you have a history of working to improve the system?
Yet, there are perennial candidates like Elizabeth Badger, who puts her name on the ballot every four years but maintains no visible presence between election cycles. This shows a commitment more focused on a hoped-for political career than on improving outcomes for students and families.
John 'J.P.' Perron is not one of these fly-by-night candidates. Perron, who last week filed to run against Kelly Gonez in Board District 6, is a long-time parent advocate who has been a vocal proponent for change, especially for students who receive Special Education services.
I know Perron from when we served together on the Special Education Committee, a body that his opponent kept from meeting, even virtually, during the COVID shutdown when she served as the LAUSD Board President. We had a front-row seat to a bureaucracy that tightly controlled the advisory committee. It was meant to guide the District--but was never given a real voice. Our questions after listening to carefully scripted presentations were rarely answered with any detail, and promised follow-ups were seldom provided. In my service on this committee, I was never contacted outside of the meetings by District bureaucrats to probe deeper into my questions or pursue my suggestions.
Perron and I were also appointed to serve together on the Community Advisory Committee (CAC), a state-mandated body that is supposed to advise the District on updates to the Special Education Local Area Plan (SELPA), the document that details how the LAUSD provides Special Education services.
During our tenure, Perron earned the trust of our fellow committee members and was elected to be the Chairperson. While the District would have also liked to have exerted complete control over this committee, Perron was adept at being a thorn in their side. At the end of his term, the District ignored the SELPA and the committee's bylaws to prevent him from being reappointed.
It would be interesting to see how the bureaucracy would react to having someone like Perron on the School Board. These elected representatives are supposed to provide oversight, but they often cede control to the Superintendent. The result has been a school District that has silenced parents, allowed corruption to fester within the Charter School Industry, and harmed students when deteriorating relations with unions resulted in strikes.
As the election season drags on, voters should be asking if a voice like Perron's can change the trajectory of the District. After all, the candidates they sent to the Board Room in past elections have not moved the needle.
Dr. Diane Ravitch has recognized education advocate Carl Petersen as a valiant fighter for public schools. A former Green Party candidate for the LAUSD School Board, Petersen is a passionate voice for special education, shaped by raising two daughters with severe autism. He recently relocated to the State of Washington to embrace his role as Poppy to two grandsons. Explore more at www.ChangeTheLAUSD.com.
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