"Elections in Los Angeles schools Tuesday had no age restrictions, no citizenship requirements. Voters could cast ballots more than once if they had more than one child or if they dashed to another polling place.
Welcome to democracy and school reform -- L.A. Unified-style.
A new school board policy, approved in August, allowed groups from inside and outside the Los Angeles Unified School District to bid for control of 12 persistently low-performing campuses and 18 new ones. Parents, teachers, students -- and anyone else who desired -- voted for their favored plans to run the 30 campuses with close to 40,000 students.
The Board of Education will make the final decision for every school, but board members will review the results.
'This is our opportunity to hear directly from the people who will most be affected by the decisions that we . . . will make in just a few weeks,' said board member Steve Zimmer, who pushed for the school elections."
Welcome to democracy and school reform -- L.A. Unified-style.
A new school board policy, approved in August, allowed groups from inside and outside the Los Angeles Unified School District to bid for control of 12 persistently low-performing campuses and 18 new ones. Parents, teachers, students -- and anyone else who desired -- voted for their favored plans to run the 30 campuses with close to 40,000 students.
The Board of Education will make the final decision for every school, but board members will review the results.
'This is our opportunity to hear directly from the people who will most be affected by the decisions that we . . . will make in just a few weeks,' said board member Steve Zimmer, who pushed for the school elections."