School Board Candidate (Placed?) On Leave

Parents in LAUSD’s Board District 5 know how a public official’s corruption can affect them personally. In 2019, the elected representative for BD5, <a href="https://changethelausd.medium.com/what-message-does-ref-rodriguez-send-to-the-children-of-los-angeles-e6b6b876004b?sk=dbf7ac7702cdb89b2aa690ff0289ae09" rel="noopener">Ref Rodriguez</a> was <a href="https://changethelausd.medium.com/lausd-school-board-member-ref-rodriguez-resigns-now-what-352718975d5b?sk=92f6606831553386dda32f12b770760e" rel="noopener">forced to resign</a> after pleading guilty to felony charges related to his campaign, leaving this portion of the District without representation. The time that this seat was left empty was extended when the <a href="https://changethelausd.medium.com/the-charter-industry-puts-bigotry-front-and-center-40f764397fe8?sk=bf735bbac4d2947c619ba839342e4a3f" rel="noopener">Board Members who had been elected with help from the Charter School Industry blocked the appointment of Jackie Goldberg as a temporary representative</a> until a special election could be held. They held the seat empty even after <a href="https://changethelausd.medium.com/the-voters-have-spoken-is-the-lausd-listening-9d8a945258d7?sk=84b1ac32365e9bf8dfdc7c74d5c0211f" rel="noopener">Goldberg won 48.18% of the votes</a> in the Special Election, <a href="https://results.lavote.gov/#year=2019&election=3983" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">11,594 more votes</a> than her closest competitor and <a href="https://results.lavote.gov/#year=2019&election=3983" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">11,625 more</a> than Graciela Ortiz. These decisions had real-world consequences when the <a href="https://changethelausd.medium.com/will-students-drown-in-a-charter-schools-ocean-of-debt-69698aae831d?sk=d935e31f813f1a38b8a6037ee4adb605" rel="noopener">Partnership to Uplift Communities (PUC) charter school chain decided to close one of their schools just days into the school year</a> leaving parents without a Board Member to turn to for help. <a href="https://medium.com/educreation/school-board-candidate-placed-on-leave-212e82334652">Read More</a>