Thirty Seven Community Organizations Call On LAUSD School Board To Create A Search Committee Of Civil Rights And Community Leaders To Interview Candidates For Superintendent

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 6, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Thirty seven community groups from across Los Angeles are calling on the LAUSD School Board to integrate community priorities and recommendations into their process. These groups - which include the Los Angeles Urban League, Community Coalition, Inner City Struggle, UCLA Center X, and Asian Americans Advancing Justice - want a committee of community leaders to have the opportunity to interview the top candidates and provide their recommendations to the Board before the final hiring.

"It's critical that LAUSD not make these decisions in a vacuum, without meaningfully incorporating community leaders into that process. In addition to the community input sessions and survey that the Board is leading, we believe the District must also create a search committee that includes representation from key leaders who have a stake in this decision – students, teachers, business leaders, civil rights leaders, union leadership, higher education experts, to name a few. This is an incredibly important decision and it's crucial that we have the support and guidance of these key leaders," said Elise Buik, President and CEO of the United Way of Greater Los Angeles. 

Desired candidate characteristics include an individual who works on the ground with educators, students and families, is committed to equity, and can navigate the tough political climate in Los Angeles. The characteristics are informed by the institutional knowledge of the CLASS network of over 50 organizations; a survey of over 110 civic and community leaders, and elected officials; town halls that involved over 1,200 participants; a dozen focus groups of teachers, students and parents; and a student survey of over 450 low-income LAUSD youth.

In addition to the search committee, the open letter to the School Board outlines best practices in similar searches, including community access to general profiles of all applicants and an accessible and frequently updated web page on the LAUSD website.

About Communities for Los Angeles Student Success
Communities for Los Angeles Student Success (CLASS) is a coalition of parent, student, educator, community-based and civil rights organizations that, since its inception, is dedicated to ensuring all students in Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) receive an equitable, high-quality public education. The coalition, through its ten core organizations including United Way of Greater Los Angeles and over 60 network partners, represents over 150,000 constituents.  For more information, visit www.unitedwayla.org/our-work/education/policy-advocacy/class/

About United Way of Greater Los Angeles
United Way of Greater Los Angeles is a nonprofit organization that creates pathways out of poverty by helping homeless people move into housing, providing students with the support they need to graduate high school prepared for college and the workforce, and helping hard-working families become financially stable. United Way identifies the root causes of poverty and works strategically to solve them by building alliances across all sectors, funding targeted programs and advocating for change. For more information, visit www.unitedwayla.org.

SOURCE Communities for Los Angeles Student Success

Related Links

http://www.unitedwayla.org