Questions Emerge Over School Board Candidate

By Howard Blume
Published on March 1, 2006

A leading contender in next week's L.A. school board race is at odds with USC and UCLA over his academic standing, the latest in a series of uncomfortable disclosures for Christopher Arellano.

Superintendant Romer Wants to End Term Early

By Howard Blume
Published on February 9, 2006

Los Angeles schools Supt. Roy Romer, the central figure in efforts to improve local schools, has quietly informed top school officials that he would like to leave the job by September, some nine months before his contract expires.

Battling Board Backs Bond

By Howard Blume
Published on August 4, 2005

What a difference a day makes.

In 24 little hours, the L.A. school board journeyed last week from chaos to harmony; from nothing to a November ballot measure; from no new taxes to a bond measure that will ask voters to raise their property taxes for schools "one last time."

If voters go for it, these local school bonds would be the fourth in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) since 1997, and would raise $3.985 billion to pay for new and repaired schools. Part of the money is needed to make up for the feverishly rising cost of school construction; the rest would fund a program that has expanded to some $15.2 billion, perhaps the nation's largest ongoing public works project outside of Iraq.

Schoolyard Brawl

By Howard Blume
Published on May 5, 2005

Hahn characterized his predecessor, Mayor Richard Riordan, as someone who "spent a lot of time and effort raising money to rearrange the members of the school board."

Doctor of the Barrio

By Beverly Gray
Published on December 27, 2001

When Julie Korenstein speaks out on environmental matters, she credits her mother, Dr. Pauline Furth, with shaping her own crusading spirit. Korenstein, who represents District 6 on the Los Angeles Unified School District's school board, said that throughout her life her mother has been "the most important influence on me personally."

Valerie Fields A Voice For Change

By Bill Lambert
Published on May 17, 2001

When Valerie Fields decided to run for the school board four years ago, it wasn't her first experience with education policy or trying to fix our schools.

Photo Finish

By Wendy J. Madnick
Published on April 5, 2001

April 10 is the ultimate day at the track for the nation's second-largest school district. Never before has so much ridden on the backs of campaign horses as in the current race for positions on Los Angeles Unified School District's (LAUSD) Board of Education.

A Class Act

By Marlene Adler Marks
Published on April 22, 1999

The political question of the week is, "What will David Tokofsky do now?" For four years, Tokofsky, the veteran teacher and former coach of Marshall High School's champion academic decathlon team, has played the role of maverick on the Los Angeles Unified School District Board. He exposed the lack of textbooks in district schools; publicized the scandal-plagued Belmont Learning Complex; crusaded against "faddish" educational philosophies; and urged an end to social promotions (implementation of which was rescinded last week by Superintendent Ruben Zacharias). Against the "Cuckoo's Nest" aura of LAUSD, Tokofsky has sounded like a visionary.