Mariana Dale
explores and explains the forces that shape how and what kids learn from kindergarten to high school.
Published December 16, 2024 5:00 AM
What is the LAUSD school board and how do I put them to work for me?
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Olivia Hughes
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LAist
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Topline:
Voters elected two new Los Angeles Unified board members and returned two incumbents to their seats in November. Now it’s time to hold them accountable.
Why it matters: More than 538,000 students attend traditional public and charter schools in Los Angeles Unified. The district is also the county’s second largest employer with more than 74,000 educators, administrators, and support staff on its payroll.
The board:
Hires, fires and evaluates the superintendent. While the school board sets policy, the superintendent manages day-to-day LAUSD operations. The current superintendent is Alberto Carvalho.
A recent decision: The board voted 5-2 in June to ban student cellphone and social media use during the school day amid rising concerns about the impact of the technologies on youth mental health. The new restrictions take effect in February.
More than half a million students attend traditional public and charter schools in Los Angeles Unified, the second-largest district in the nation. LAUSD runs the schools in several other cities in L.A. County, too, such as West Hollywood and South Gate.
The district is also the county’s second largest employer with more than 74,000 educators, administrators, and support staff on its payroll.
LAUSD doesn't fit neatly into "city" or "county" categories. Although it's enshrined in the L.A. City Charter, LAUSD operates independently of City Hall. That's why you elect school board members directly. That also makes L.A. the largest city in the country in which the mayor has no direct control over the school board.
What can the school board do?
School board members have a lot of power. Among other things, school board members:
Hire, fire and evaluate the superintendent — their single most important responsibility. While the school board sets policy, the superintendent manages day-to-day LAUSD operations. The current superintendent is Alberto Carvalho, who led Miami-Dade County Public Schools before coming to L.A. in 2021.
Early learning and care: Every 4-year-old in California is now eligible for free pre-kindergarten classes, or transitional kindergarten (also known as TK). Los Angeles Unified has acted fast on the state’s mandate.
Student cellphone ban: The board voted in June 2024 to ban student cellphone and social media use during the school day amid rising concerns about the impact of the technologies on youth mental health. The new restrictions took effect in February, with students and educators reporting mixed results.
Advocating for immigrant and LGBTQ+ students: In August, the school district announced a slew of additional protections for immigrant students, and had previously announced more protections for LGBTQ+ staff, and families of students, as a response to the Donald Trump administration.
School Game Plan
Enter your email to follow School Game Plan and learn how to navigate and get involved in your child’s education.
How much money do school board members make?
A committee appointed by local politicians sets the salary and benefits for LAUSD board members.
As of July 2024, LAUSD school board members receive:
$51,510 if they have another source of employment income.
$128,775 if they do not have another source of employment income.
These salaries increase 1% annually through July 2027.
Before 2017, the board’s pay was based on starting teacher salaries at the time, about $45,000 a year.
The Los Angeles Unified School District Board on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024.
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Mariana Dale
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LAist
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When do I want to bring something to the board’s attention?
San Fernando Valley mom Roxann Nazario has spent years advocating for her children’s education and on behalf of others in the community.
She said the first person to talk to about your child’s education is their teacher, but if you don’t feel like your question or problem is being addressed, reach out to the principal and other school staff. Then try the regional superintendents — find your region here and the contact information for who’s in charge here.
“There's a chain of command and you have to work your way all the way up,” Nazario said.
To contact the board member who represents your local school or neighborhood (more on how to find them below), you’ll likely first speak to someone who works for their office.
While there’s no guarantee that a board member can or will solve the problem at your individual school, board members LAist has interviewed often pride themselves on listening to and intervening at the local level.
If your goal is to draw wider public attention to an issue — or success — at your child’s school, you might consider attending a board meeting.
The board also has several committees. These meetings are an opportunity to learn more about specific topics and weigh in on policy development, but major decisions must be voted on by the full board.
This includes all board members and often previews upcoming policy decisions
Don’t miss a meeting
You can sign up to have board meeting agendas and other district news emailed directly.
There is an opportunity to speak directly to the board, and whoever may be watching the meeting, during public comment.
Nazario suggests you watch the livestream of a meeting or attend one in person to familiarize yourself with the order of business.
Speakers must pre-register and can comment by phone or in person. They are generally limited to two minutes.
“Don't be afraid to be emotional,” Nazario said. “Don't be afraid to stumble over your words. Like that just shows that you're human and you're not scripted… . You're a real parent just giving your story.”
While board members typically don’t answer questions or respond in the moment, they can dispatch members of their staff to meet with you about your comment. Speaking publicly can also help connect you to other parents, educators and journalists who may report on what you’ve shared.
Hear it from a parent
This summer middle school parent Lyra Kilston read an LAist story about the possibility of a student cellphone ban in LAUSD.
“Phones and social media and mental health and all of that stuff is almost an obsessive topic for certain parents with kids this age,” Kilston said. ”I felt kind of galvanized by the fact that this was being discussed.”
For the first time, she signed up to speak during public comment to express her support for the ban.
“It kind of felt like most of the board members' minds had probably been made up before they came to that meeting,” Kilston said. “But it still felt valuable to be contributing to the conversation.”
Kilston said the experience also helped her better understand who leads the district.
“Seeing all of these people in the process of doing their job made it more real to me,” Kilston said.
Her message for other parents?
“ It was a lot easier than I would have thought to actually voice my opinion to the board.”
Who is on the school board?
Board members are elected to four-year terms (with a maximum of three full terms), and represent different geographical areas.
The board also streams its meetings online, and offers American Sign Language and Spanish interpretation.
Community members can also request interpretation in other languages by contacting the Board Secretariat at secretariat@lausd.net or (213) 241-7002.
Parking in downtown L.A. can be an adventure. We made a map, below, of district-sanctioned and unofficial lots in the area. There are also designated areas to drop people off on Beaudry Avenue and Boylston Street.
What challenges does the district face?
Learning loss: The COVID-19 pandemic erased years of progress in reading, writing, and math skills. LAUSD students made small gains on California's standardized math test last year, but the majority of students do not meet benchmark scores for any subject. Among the most vocal parents are those of students with disabilities, who say schools failed to meet their children’s needs during distance learning.
Enrollment: Twenty years ago, Los Angeles Unified schools were badly overcrowded. Now, LAUSD faces the opposite problem. The district’s enrollment declined for two decades before lurching downward at the start of the pandemic. California uses enrollment to set school funding levels, so declining enrollment means declining funding.
Chronic absenteeism: Nearly a quarter of LAUSD students missed close to a month or more of school in the 2023-24 school year. While the rate of chronic absenteeism has declined from earlier pandemic highs, Black, Native American, Latino, and Pacific Islander students miss more school than their peers. A lack of transportation, access to health care, and feeling of safety could all play a role. Without consistent attendance, students lose valuable opportunities to learn, and the district loses funding that could bolster classrooms with additional resources.
Mental health: In various surveys and reporting, many students say their mental health suffered far more than their transcripts during the pandemic, and schools have struggled to hire enough school counselors and social workers. The school board will have to figure out how to maintain and grow mental health support for students.
School safety: The board agreed to cut the school police department's annual budget by $25 million (35%) in the summer of 2020, after the widespread protests against police brutality following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. It redirected that money into the Black Student Achievement Plan that includes funding for counselors, social workers, curriculum changes, and community partnerships. Advocates say more than two years after the plan launched, funding is lagging and resources have not been distributed equally among all schools. This year also includes additional concerns about the threat of federal immigration enforcement actions on or near campuses.
Green schools: The majority of LAUSD schools lack cool, shaded places for students to play and learn outdoors. The yards of about 600 schools have less than 30% “green” space according to district documents. The district has allocated tens of millions of dollars to cool campuses in recent years and estimates it could cost up to $3 billion and take decades, to reach its greening goals.
What if my child attends a charter school?
Charter School 101
Who’s in charge? An independent nonprofit organization with an un-elected board. Some charter schools are affiliated with public districts.
Who funds them? Taxpayers. Charter schools are publicly funded.
Is there tuition? No.
What makes them different from regular public schools? Charter schools are exempt from many laws that govern public education.
The LAUSD board’s influence on charter schools varies and in many cases, charters have boards separate from the district.
Affiliated charter schools are those operated by the district and the LAUSD board’s decisions influence their operations in a similar way to a traditional public school.
Independent charter schools are run by a separate, nonprofit organization. And day-to-day operations are overseen by a separate board, often appointed by the school’s founders or nonprofit leaders.
They might decide on everything from curriculum to hiring and student discipline.
“ The district doesn't generally have any control over any of those local decisions, provided that those decisions are not unlawful or discriminatory,” said Ricardo Soto, chief advocacy officer and general counsel for the California Charter Schools Association.
Charter school operators oversee a much smaller staff and student body than many public school districts.
“It's much more accessible for parents or for guardians of children to attend those board meetings and to get involved," Soto said. “Charter schools are really dependent on their school communities for anything to happen.”
Find out who is on the board, when they meet and how to contact them on your school’s website or by asking your child’s teacher.
The Sixth Street Viaduct during the opening ceremony in July 2022.
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Pablo de la Hoya
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Boyle Heights Beat
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Topline:
After copper wire theft left the Sixth Street Bridge in darkness for years, the city of Los Angeles has hired a Pasadena-based engineering firm to restore the lighting, a move aimed at improving safety for Boyle Heights and the surrounding neighborhoods.
The backstory? Aging infrastructure, copper wire theft and delayed repairs led to nearly 2,000 streetlight service requests in Boyle Heights in 2024. Nearly seven miles of copper wire have been reported stolen from the Sixth Street Bridge.
Read on ... for more on the history of the Sixth Street Bridge.
After copper wire theft left the Sixth Street Bridge in darkness for years, the city of Los Angeles has hired a Pasadena-based engineering firm to restore the lighting, a move aimed at improving safety for Boyle Heights and the surrounding neighborhoods.
City officials contracted Tetra Tech to relight the bridge, which has been plagued by copper wire theft since its opening in 2022. The outages have frustrated residents and commuters who use the bridge to walk, run, bike and drive between downtown LA and the Eastside.
Aging infrastructure, copper wire theft and delayed repairs led to nearly 2,000 streetlight service requests in Boyle Heights in 2024. Nearly seven miles of copper wire have been reported stolen from the Sixth Street Bridge.
Tetra Tech began working on the project’s design in January and is scheduled to restore the wiring to all lights along the bridge, including along roadways, barriers, ramps, stairways and arches before the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games come to Los Angeles that summer, according to a Feb. 18 news release from Councilmember Ysabel Jurado’s office.
The firm – which was selected by the city’s Bureau of Engineering – will fortify the pull boxes, service cabinet and conduits to protect against copper wire theft. Tetra Tech will also install a security camera system to deter vandalism and theft.
“When our streets are well-lit, our neighborhoods feel safer and more connected,” Jurado said in the news release. “The Sixth Street Bridge plays a vital role in connecting Angelenos between the Eastside and the heart of the City.”
Jurado – who pledged to look into fixing the Sixth Street Bridge lights when she was elected in 2024 – said the partnership with Tetra Tech “moves us one step closer to restoring one of the City’s most iconic landmarks as a safe, welcoming public space our communities deserve.”
According to officials, the total contract value with Tetra Tech is $5.3 million, which includes work on the Sixth Street Bridge as well as the Sixth Street PARC project, which encompasses 12 acres of recreational space underneath and adjacent to the bridge.
The PARC project will make way for sports fields, fitness equipment, event spaces and a performance stage. PARC’s grand opening is anticipated later this year.
Because the work for the PARC project and the bridge is connected, the Board of Engineers recommended using the existing PARC contract with Tetra Tech to ensure completion ahead of the 2028 Games, officials said.
The cost for the design work on the bridge alone is roughly $1 million.
On Thursday, Jurado announced that her streetlight repair crew had restored lighting and strengthened infrastructure for more than 400 streetlights across her district, including Boyle Heights, Lincoln Heights, and El Sereno. Next, they plan to tackle repairs in downtown L.A.
27th Street Bakery co-owner Jeanette Bolden-Pickens removes sweet potato pies from the oven Feb. 12.
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LaMonica Peters
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The LA Local
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Topline:
For the last 70 years, the 27th Street Bakery hasn’t just been the go-to place for people who want to spend less time in the kitchen — it’s become a staple in South Central, providing jobs and security for people living in the neighborhood.
The history: The bakery sits on Central Avenue, the focal point of Black Los Angeles between the 1930s and 1960s. As segregation laws were struck down, Black people in LA began to move elsewhere and took their businesses with them. The bakery, though, is still Black-owned and operating 70 years later.
Read on ... for more on the local landmark.
For the last 70 years, the 27th Street Bakery hasn’t just been the go-to place for people who want to spend less time in the kitchen — it’s become a staple in South Central, providing jobs and security for people living in the neighborhood.
The bakery is Black-owned and in its third generation as a business. It’s co-owned by sisters Denise Cravin-Paschal and Olympic gold-medalist Jeanette Bolden-Pickens, as well as her husband Al Pickens.
“My grandfather employed a lot of people around here as he was growing his business and so have we,” Cravin-Paschal told the LA Local. “They feel that this is a safe place to come. We have the respect of being here for 70 years and so we enjoy it.”
The bakery sits on Central Avenue, the focal point of Black Los Angeles between the 1930s and 1960s. As segregation laws were struck down, Black people in LA began to move elsewhere and took their businesses with them. The bakery, though, is still Black-owned and operating 70 years later.
Today it is considered the largest manufacturer of sweet potato pies on the West Coast, the bakery’s website states. Last year, the city and District 9 Councilmember Curren Price Jr. presented the bakery with a plaque that reads: “A Walk Down Central Avenue — A legacy of community: powered by the people and its places.”
It hangs on the wall in the bakery’s lobby along with several other photos and recognitions they’ve received over the years.
“Our goal is to keep this legacy alive and we’re celebrating 70 years of being here in business. We are so grateful to the community,” Bolden-Pickens said.
In celebration of its anniversary, a sign in the bakery says it is offering one slice of sweet potato pie for 70 cents on Saturdays starting this weekend through Oct. 31.
The bakery was a restaurant at first bringing Southern flavor to LA
The bakery began as a restaurant in the 1930s on Central Avenue founded by Harry and Sadie Patterson, according to the family and Los Angeles Conservancy. Back then, Central Avenue was the epicenter of LA’s Black community and Patterson, who came from Shreveport, Louisiana, decided to bring his Southern recipes to life in Los Angeles.
The restaurant later became a bakery in 1956, according to the bakery’s website. Patterson’s daughter Alberta Cravin and her son Gregory Spann took over the bakery in 1980. After Spann passed away, Cravin’s daughters — the sisters who are current owners — took over the family business. Five other relatives also help them out, Cravin-Paschal said.
These days, the bakery is open Tuesday through Saturday each week and the bulk of their customers are other businesses. They serve nearly 300 vendors including convenience stores like 7-Eleven, Ralphs grocery stores, Smart & Final, ARCO gas stations, restaurants and other mom-and-pop stores. Louisiana Fried Chicken has been a customer since 1980, Cravin-Paschal said.
An average delivery today is usually 45 dozen pies and they also ship orders out of state, Cravin-Paschal said.
She also told The LA Local they have six full time employees and most of them have worked for the bakery at least 25 years.
“I like working here, I like the people,” Maximina “Maxi” Rodriguez, a longtime employee, told The LA Local. After 32 years at the bakery, she said she plans to retire in June. “I’m going to miss it.”
Rodriguez said working at the bakery is a family affair for her, too. Her sister, Guadalupe Garibaldi, has worked at the bakery for over 40 years and her niece, Yoselin Garibaldi, is now a cashier and driver.
Patterson’s lessons inspired 3 generations to keep the business running
For Bolden-Pickens and Cravin-Paschal, running the bakery is a labor of love. Both told The LA Local that their grandfather taught them to stay true to the fresh ingredients they use and not to cut corners.
These lessons helped Bolden-Pickens in her life before taking over the family business. She won a gold medal as part of the U.S. 4×100 meter relay team in track and field during the 1984 Olympics.
“What I learned from being an Olympian is that it takes a lot of hard work. I learned that from my grandfather,” she said.
Bolden-Pickens said it hasn’t been easy running the business, but they’ve been able to stay afloat because of the lessons learned from their grandfather.
“I remember during the pandemic, we actually had to go to the egg farm and stand in line for a couple of hours just to get the eggs that we needed,” Bolden-Pickens said. “We use the best spices. We make our own vanilla.”
Cravin-Paschal said after the death of their brother Gregory Spann, who was the main baker for nearly two decades, they struggled for a few years to keep the recipe and taste consistent. But eventually they figured it out.
“We had a little rough spot because we all know the recipes but you have to put it together (correctly),” Cravin-Paschal said. “Now we’re back to the original taste.”
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A person prepares a marijuana cigarette in New York City on April 20, 2024.
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Leonardo Munoz
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Getty Images
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Topline:
As marijuana use among teens has grown in the past decade, researchers have been trying to better understand the health risks of the drug. Now, a new longitudinal study finds that cannabis use among adolescents increases risks of being diagnosed with bipolar and psychotic disorders, as well as anxiety and depression, years later.
What was the study: Researchers analyzed health data on 460,000 teenagers in the Kaiser Permanente Health System in Northern California. The teens were followed until they were 25 years old.
What was the result: They found that the teens who reported using cannabis in the past year were at a higher risk of being diagnosed with several mental health conditions a few years later, compared to teens who didn't use cannabis.
Read on ... for more on what the study found.
As marijuana use among teens has grown in the past decade, researchers have been trying to better understand the health risks of the drug. Now, a new longitudinal study finds that cannabis use among adolescents increases risks of being diagnosed with bipolar and psychotic disorders, as well as anxiety and depression, years later.
Researchers analyzed health data on 460,000 teenagers in the Kaiser Permanente Health System in Northern California. The teens were followed until they were 25 years old. The data included annual screenings for substance use and any mental health diagnoses from the health records. Researchers excluded the adolescents who had symptoms of mental illnesses before using cannabis.
"We looked at kids using cannabis before they had any evidence of these psychiatric conditions and then followed them to understand if they were more likely or less likely to develop them," says Dr. Lynn Silver, a pediatrician and researcher at the Public Health Institute, and an author of the new study.
They found that the teens who reported using cannabis in the past year were at a higher risk of being diagnosed with several mental health conditions a few years later, compared to teens who didn't use cannabis.
Teens who reported using cannabis had twice the risk of developing two serious mental illnesses: bipolar, which manifests as alternating episodes of depression and mania, and psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia which involve a break with reality.
Now, only a small fraction — nearly 4,000 — of all teens in the study were diagnosed with each of these two disorders. Both bipolar and psychotic disorders are among the most serious and disabling of mental illnesses.
"Those are the scarier conditions that we worry about," says Sultan.
Silver points out these illnesses are expensive to treat and come at a high cost to society. The U.S. cannabis market is an industry with a value in the tens-of-billions — but the societal cost of schizophrenia has been calculated to be $350 billion a year.
"And if we increase the number of people who develop that condition in a way that's preventable, that can wipe out the whole value of the cannabis market," Silver says.
Depression and anxiety too
The new study also found that the risk for more common conditions like depression and anxiety was also higher among cannabis users.
"Depression alone went up by about a third," says Silver, "and anxiety went up by about a quarter."
But the link between cannabis use and depression and anxiety got weaker for teens who were older when they used cannabis. "Which really shows the sensitivity of the younger child's brain to the effects of cannabis," says Silver. "The brain is still developing. The effects of cannabis on the receptors in the brain seem to have a significant impact on their neurological development and the risk for these mental health disorders."
Silver hopes these findings will make teens more cautious about using the drug, which is not as safe as people perceive it to be.
"With legalization, we've had a tremendous wave of this perception of cannabis as a safe, natural product to treat your stress with," she says. "That is simply not true."
The new study is well designed and gets at "the chicken or the egg, order-of-operations question," says Sultan. There have been other past studies that have also found a link between cannabis use and mental health conditions, especially psychosis. But, those studies couldn't tell whether cannabis affected the likelihood of developing mental health symptoms or whether people with existing problems were more likely to use cannabis — perhaps to treat their symptoms.
But by excluding teens who were already showing mental health symptoms, the new study suggests a causal link between cannabis use and later mental health diagnoses. Additional research is needed to understand the link fully.
'Playing with fire'
Sultan, the psychiatrist and researcher at Columbia University, says the study confirms what he's seeing in his clinic — more teens using cannabis who've developed new or worsening mental health symptoms.
"It is most common around anxiety and depression, but it's also showing up in more severe conditions like bipolar disorder and psychosis," he says.
He notes that mental health disorders are complex in origin. A host of risk factors, like genetics, environment, lifestyle and life experiences all play a role. And some young people are more at risk than others.
"When someone has a psychotic episode in the context of cannabis or a manic episode in the context of cannabis, clinicians are going to say, 'Please do not do that again because you're you're you're playing with fire,'" he says.
Because the more they use the drug, he says the more likely that their symptoms will worsen over time, making recovery harder.
"What we're worried about [is if] you sort of get stuck in psychosis, it gets harder and harder to pull the person back," says Sultan. "Psychosis and severe mood disorders, particularly bipolar disorder are like seizures in your brain. They're sort of neurotoxic to your brain, and so it seems to be associated with a more rapid deterioration of the brain."
Teenagers ride electric motorcycles along the La Jolla coastline at sunset Dec. 27, 2025, in San Diego.
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Kevin Carter
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Getty Images
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Topline:
A proposed bill in the California legislature would require certain electric bikes to register with the Department of Motor Vehicles and to carry license plates.
Why does it matter?: This proposal would make it easier to identify people involved in dangerous incidents.
Why now?: E-bike related injuries increased 18-fold between 2018 and 2023, according to data from the Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System.
Read on for more details …
Some electric bikes in California could soon require license plates under a proposed state bill aiming to address the rise in electric bike related injuries.
AB 1942 or the E-bike Accountability Act, would apply exclusively to Class 2 and Class 3 electric bikes.
Class 2 bikes can be operated without peddling until it reaches the speed of 20 mph.
Class 3 bikes reach a max speed of 28 mph; motor assist could only kick in with peddling.
The bill would also require owners to carry proof of ownership and would direct the Department of Motor Vehicles to establish a registration process. It was introduced by Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan of Orinda in Contra Costa County earlier this month.
E-bike injuries spiked 18-fold between 2018 and 2023, according to state traffic data.
