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Thursday, July 14, 2011

Schools Matter: A Mother's message to LAUSD Trustee Nury Martinez

Schools Matter: A Mother's message to LAUSD Trustee Nury Martinez

A Mother's message to LAUSD Trustee Nury Martinez

First published on EchoParkPatch

"If there's one thing I hope comes out of this is that Ms. Martinez thinks about the incident and reflects upon how she and the other board members ignored our community's voices throughout the entire process." — Windy Anne Bunts O'Malley

I was on holiday with my wife visiting her family in Daegu, Korea when the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Board voted to take away the only form of input communities and parents had in the so-called Public School Choice (PSC) privatization process. While I wasn't surprised when checking my email that Mayor Villaraigosa's corporate cabal killed the advisory vote and hence democracy, I was shocked and appalled to read that a LAUSD Trustee called one of our very own mothers from the diverse Echo Park Moms 4 Education a racist. As soon I returned Stateside, I sat through the LAUSD Board meeting footage to witness the incident.

After a profound and heartfelt speech defending democratic processes by local mother Windy O'Malley, LAUSD