The Incumbent Stays Silent While Challengers Make Their Final Pitch

"The public education system is being assaulted by politics, privatization, special interest groups, lack of funding, a teacher shortage, declining enrollment, and the COVID pandemic." - Jesus Arana

With just over a week until mail-in ballots drop, the candidates for LAUSD's Board District 6 were invited to a candidate forum by the Sun Valley Area Neighborhood Council. This was the first time that voters had the opportunity to ask all three candidates questions at one event.

Unfortunately for those trying to make a decision, incumbent Kelley Gonez was a no-show for the forum, claiming that she had a "prior commitment." This follows Gonez's apparent strategy for her re-election campaign of keeping her head down and doing everything possible to avoid scrutiny of her record. In place of face-to-face campaigning, she is relying on charter school industry support to engage in a marketing campaign where the message can be carefully controlled.

Apparently, the questions in my monthly series on issues facing the LAUSD do not fit within the planned messaging of the campaign. Despite being invited to share her opinions, Gonez has ignored opportunities to engage with her constituents on subjects like PROP-39 and overallocation fees, forced mainstreaming for children with severe special education needs, community engagement, and ethical issues.

Gonez also neglected to respond to this month's lightning round, which consisted of 20 questions about a variety of issues. While these were designed to be "yes" or "no" questions, the candidates were invited to go into more detail if they felt the need to do so. They were also given the opportunity to provide a closing pitch to the voters. This was limited to one paragraph.

While Gonez showed a lack of respect for the voters by ignoring these questions, her two opponents, Marvin Rodriguez and Jesus Arana took the time to provide their responses. It should be noted that Rodriguez had the only perfect record in the series of all 11 candidates across the district.

(Image by Marvin Rodríguez / Jesus Arana)   Details   DMCA

• 1. Do you have children who are enrolled in LAUSD district schools?

Marvin Rodriguez: Yes

Jesus Arana: Yes, I have four current children in LAUSD; Elementary, Middle, and High School. My eldest daughter graduated from San Fernando and is now a Paraprofessional in Special Education.

• 2. Do you commit to ensuring that your staff includes parents with children enrolled in district schools?

Marvin Rodriguez: Yes

Jesus Arana: Yes, this will help me be grounded and connected with the Community.

• 3. Is lowering the student-to-staff ratio essential for increasing outcomes?

Marvin Rodriguez: Yes

Jesus Arana: Very essential! Whenever a child can get more individualized attention, it will help them achieve the next level of learning.

• 4. Do you support having a nurse assigned full-time to every school?

Marvin Rodriguez: Yes

Jesus Arana: Yes, emergencies happen at school and it is our responsibility to keep our students safe.

• 5. Do you support having either a librarian or a library aid assigned full-time to every school?

Marvin Rodriguez: Yes

Jesus Arana: Yes, librarians and library aides are essential to the learning environment.

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