Whats wrong with LAUSD?
By Eric Roth, Contributing Writer Board of Education Member Valerie Fields. Helen Burnstein, the former president of the United Teachers of Los Angles, used to argue, “Teachers want what students need.” Many Jewish educators and parents feel the same way about Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). “Jews want what LAUSD needs.” Educational excellence, higher standards, and more enrichment activities have become the mantras of educational reformers. But de facto segregation seems to have returned to LAUSD despite court- ordered busing, and the Belmont and South Gate fiscal disasters have done little to alleviate the widespread perception that the opaque complexity of LAUSD’s bureaucratic structures are wasteful, counter-productive, and scandalous. Board of Education members Valerie Fields and David Tokofsky, along with other board members, have been shaking up LAUSD, hiring a new interim superintendent, announcing bold programs and discussing splitting LAUSD into 11 subdistricts.
