LAUSD’s Nick Melvoin: Betrayal of Trust
INSIDE THE LAUSD BOARD-“Thanks for your participation in yesterday evening’s meeting with Nick Melvoin. For reference, I attached my notes and next steps from our discussion. Please do not share these notes outside of this group.” -- Jason J. Rudolph, CCSA
It appears that this school board member was a mole in the boardroom as the LAUSD defended itself against a lawsuit from the charter school industry.
As the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) board pretended last May to accept public comment on the proposed candidates for the vacant Superintendent position, they had already made a decision. However, in violation of the Brown Act, the Board had neglected to “publicly report any action taken in closed session and the vote or abstention on that action of every member present.” The public only found out about this deception because Board Member Scott Schmerelson released a statement revealing that “On April 20, by the slimmest majority possible, four members of the LAUSD Board of Education (Garcia, Melvoin, Vladovic, Rodriguez) voted to authorize negotiations for an employment contract with Mr. Austin Beutner as the General Superintendent of the District.” In an appearance before the Northridge East Neighborhood Council, Schmerelson further divulged that every time he asked Beutner “a question about education, [Beutner] couldn’t answer because he really didn’t know.”
As the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) board pretended last May to accept public comment on the proposed candidates for the vacant Superintendent position, they had already made a decision. However, in violation of the Brown Act, the Board had neglected to “publicly report any action taken in closed session and the vote or abstention on that action of every member present.” The public only found out about this deception because Board Member Scott Schmerelson released a statement revealing that “On April 20, by the slimmest majority possible, four members of the LAUSD Board of Education (Garcia, Melvoin, Vladovic, Rodriguez) voted to authorize negotiations for an employment contract with Mr. Austin Beutner as the General Superintendent of the District.” In an appearance before the Northridge East Neighborhood Council, Schmerelson further divulged that every time he asked Beutner “a question about education, [Beutner] couldn’t answer because he really didn’t know.”
Schmerelson was rewarded for his transparency with an investigation by the District Attorney. His fellow board member Nick Melvoin denied that he filed the complaint, but told Speak Up, (an organization created to promote his candidacy), that Schmerelson was “revealing closed-session stuff [and talking] about Austin’s answers.” Melvoin maintained that information about “who wanted Austin, who didn’t, what Austin said, is confidential” and should not have been revealed. So much “for a new era of transparency and accountability” that the Board District 4 CONTINUE READING: LAUSD’s Nick Melvoin: Betrayal of Trust