The Brief

A teachers union endorsement has been a powerful, but not invincible, force in Los Angeles school board elections.

An endorsement from United Teachers Los Angeles typically brings money and the people-power of 35,000 members. Since January, educators dressed in the union's signature red, armed with stacks of door-hangers, have canvassed the city, knocking on doors every weekend in competitive districts.

Echo Park elementary school educators Betsy Ures and Emily Ponce joined more than a hundred fellow members at the union’s headquarters near Koreatown last month to spread the word about the union-backed candidate in Board District 5, Karla Griego.

“I actually really enjoy knocking doors, talking to regular working people and hearing about their experiences with LAUSD,” Ures said.

Candidates endorsed by UTLA have a significant edge — since 2015, 63% have won their school board races.

And when an endorsed candidate missteps, it also draws scrutiny to the union. That was the case last week when UTLA’s choice for Board District 1, Kahllid Al-Alim, was revealed to have made antisemitic remarks online.

The power behind an endorsement

Ures and Ponce started teaching at the school around the same time, went on strike together in 2019, and navigated remote learning during the early years of the pandemic.

“I don't think people realize how much you know children are dealing with,” Ponce said.

For example, more Los Angeles families are being evicted than before the pandemic. A higher rate of students are reporting persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness. An estimated 32,000 California youth experienced the death of a parent or caregiver from COVID-19.

Ures and Ponce’s pitch for Griego as the “teacher’s choice” included her almost 20 years as a special education teacher — she would be the first such educator on the board — and that she’s the parent of a teenage student.

“She's a really great advocate for teachers and for students,” Ponce said at one door.

This year, the union endorsed candidates in three of LAUSD’s four open races.

• In Board District 1: Community organizer and parent Kahllid Al-Alim. 
• In Board District 3: Incumbent former principal and teacher Scott Schmerelson. 
• In Board District 5: Special education teacher Karla Griego
• In Board District 7: No endorsement. Incumbent Tanya Ortiz Franklin is running against Long Beach educator Lydia Gutiérrez.

Griego is one of four candidates in District 5. The others are Bell mayor and school board staffer Fidencio Joel Gallardo, parent and retired teacher Victorio R. Gutierrez and educator and Huntington Park city councilmember Graciela Ortiz.

Ortiz has been removed from her LAUSD job pending the outcome of a confidential investigation related to a civil lawsuit.

Pamphlets of Karla Griego are left on residents' doors by UTLA members. Photo by Zaydee Sanchez for Laist.

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West area board directors of UTLA, Marie Germaine and Stacy Yakimowich Chavez, go door to door in the West Adams Historic neighborhood canvassing for Karla Griego. Photo by Zaydee Sanchez for Laist.

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UTLA’s endorsement process takes weeks, if not months to complete. In the fall, an expanded endorsement team of members reviewed research compiled by a political consultant, interviewed candidates and submitted its recommendations to the union’s political action council, board of directors, and house of representatives who all vote on the endorsements.

UTLA chose to endorse candidates that are closely aligned with its platform, which in recent years has included workforce issues like teacher salaries and class sizes, but also housing, adding more green space to campuses, defunding school police and creating restorative justice programs.

One of the school board’s primary responsibilities is to determine how to allocate an annual operating budget of $9 billion.

“The [district] budget reflects the values of our school district and the school board members determine that budget,” Ures said. “It's not just like we need someone on the board with our values in mind. It's also, we need someone on the board, who has a movement behind them, who can help inform the candidates once they become members.”

Teacher working conditions, student learning conditions

UTLA allies regained majority control of the LAUSD board in 2022 after charter advocates tipped the scales in favor of the independently run, publicly funded schools in 2017.

LAUSD elections broke spending records in 2017; the campaigns and outside fundraisers spent $17 million in support of — and opposition to— candidates for three board seats. Though overall spending dipped in 2022, LAUSD races continue to attract millions of dollars from outside funders, an anomaly in school political races.

“The thing about philanthropists and corporate interests is that the focus of what issues they get excited about changes from election to election,” said Michael Hartney, a political scientist and Hoover fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. “Teachers unions are perennially powerful because they are largely focused on the education issue.”

Hartney evaluated California, New York and Florida school board elections between 1995 and 2020 and found union-backed candidates won 7 out of 10 seats.

Educators make the case that better working conditions for teachers create better learning conditions for students. The message seems to work most of the time.

“Voters perceived that the union-backed candidate would do a better job than the non-union-backed candidate,” Hartney said of a study that asked people to evaluate a fictitious match up between two candidates, one with and one without teachers’ endorsement.

Whether electing educators themselves — or candidates who’ve won their endorsement — makes a difference on academic outcomes is harder to determine.

One study based in California found when an educator serves on the school board, teacher salaries rise and charter school enrollment declines. Average test scores and high school graduation rates do not change.

Universally, unions seek to improve the working conditions of its members.

“That may benefit students, but there are also instances we can point to where the union is, by necessity, going to have to fight for things that are good for school employees that may not be in the best interest of all students,” Hartney said.

Hartney pointed to the first years of the pandemic when teachers unions’, including UTLA, pushed back on plans to reopen schools to in-person learning. Student attendance, reading, and math test scores have yet to rebound, though some research shows states where schools reopened earlier didn’t have significantly higher academic outcomes.

Turning out parents

Primary elections typically have a lower turnout than the general election and as of Feb. 24, 7% of California voters had returned their ballots.

Hartney said when turnout is low, teachers, their families, and others in their network can sway the election outcome.

“Parents have an incentive to vote and participate in school board elections, but their interest really declines after their kids graduate from the local schools and move on,” Hartney said.

Many of the people teachers Ures and Ponce talked to in Koreatown readily admitted they had little awareness of the upcoming school board election, but there were exceptions.

“I actually moved here after my school years, but I'd like to at least stay up in the local,” said Jerin Haynes.

Haynes said he remembered getting lost in the shuffle of overcrowded classrooms growing up and wants to see Black and brown students have access to books that reflect their identities.

“Just because you don't have the kids in the room does not mean that that generation won't affect your vote, your welfare, their welfare, your kids welfare,” Haynes said. “It's all connected. It's all community. It's all network. So you have to literally try and it starts by one vote.”

Could the union lose Board District 1?

In mid-February, screenshots alleging Board District 1 Candidate Kahllid Al-Alim liked dozens of anti-semitic and sexually explicit posts from private, pre-campaign social media accounts began circulating online.

In the post that sparked the most backlash, Al-Alim wrote that an antisemitic and academically debunked book should be made “mandatory” reading for students in LAUSD schools serving high-need and Black students.

“What he is suggesting doesn't align with union values,” said Educators Caucus for Israel Chair Amy Leserman. “What he is suggesting does not align with district values and somebody who has these values should not be making decisions about students. Period.”

The caucus is made up of educators and advocates, and amplified screenshots of Al-Alim’s social media activity. Its members have called on Al-Alim to quit the race.

UTLA suspended its campaign for Al-Alim after that social media activity resurfaced last week. A final vote to rescind the union’s endorsement is scheduled for Monday, March 4, one day before the primary election. It’s unclear whether the controversy will doom Al-Alim’s campaign and overshadow the union’s other endorsements.

Al-Alim initially apologized in a brief three-paragraph statement on his campaign website Feb. 20 and expanded his response in a video published online Sunday.

“I am sorry for amplifying these dangerous ideas,” Al-Alim said. “I understand that doing so has harmed people and undermined the vital collective work we are doing to advance justice for all people, expand educational funding in LAUSD, and protect public schools.”

Al-Alim agreed to be available to talk with parents, educators, and community members, and to participate in training about countering antisemitism.

United Teachers Los Angeles decorate the walls with UTLA posteres. Photo by Zaydee Sanchez for Laist.

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Assembly Democratic Caucus Chair Rick Chavez Zbur, LAUSD Board President Jackie Goldberg and Board Member Rocío Rivas are among those who have called for the longtime community organizer to withdraw from the race. The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor announced on Feb. 23 that it would no longer campaign for Al-Alim and that its members will discuss whether to withdraw the endorsement completely.

“As a Jewish educator, I was really hurt to see some of the antisemitic content on his Twitter posts,” said Echo Park first grade teacher Hannah Day. “Antisemitism has no place in our movement for the schools that L.A. students deserve or any movement for social, racial, or economic justice. Nor does any other form of racism or discrimination.”

Day is a member of UTLA’s expanded endorsement team and said she supported suspending the campaign while union members decide how to move forward, but that she still supports Al-Alim’s candidacy.

“The only way we're ever going to fight off privatization, build the schools our students deserve, is if we…address these harmful ideologies within our movement and outside in the world, and work together in solidarity with one another,” Day said.

Before the news about the posts broke, teachers unions, including UTLA, had already spent $650,000 supporting Al-Alim’s candidacy.

Charter school advocates and other outside donors spent $377,000 to support Didi Watts, a longtime educator and chief of staff for current LAUSD Board Member Tanya Ortiz Franklin.

We won’t know definitively how the late development shaped last-minute fundraising or opposition ads until after the primary.

At least one candidate referenced the controversy in an emailed campaign update. “I stand against discrimination in any form that would deny any of our students access to a high quality education,” wrote Sherlett Hendy Newbill, who’s been endorsed by four sitting board members. “That's why we have to keep Kahllid Al-Alim off the school board and away from our children.”

One outstanding question is whether— or how— UTLA was unaware of Al-Alim’s social media activity.

Day said a review of the candidates’ social media was not included in the research provided to the union’s expanded endorsement team.

“I think this was an oversight and I think we're learning from this experience,” Day said.

Long Beach Airport will hold an emergency preparedness drill Friday night that will include smoke, along with lights and sirens from emergency vehicles.

The drill, which will happen from 9 to 11 p.m. on Friday, is required by the Federal Aviation Administration every three years and “will test the speed and effectiveness of first responders” and airport staff in an emergency situation, according to the airport. As part of the drill, volunteer actors will play injured victims.

It will not take place near the terminal or the drop-off area, but may be visible to some people at the airport, said airport spokesperson Darrick Lee.

No roads will be closed near the airport, and the drill is not anticipated to impact any aircraft operations, Lee said.

Two years ago, I ate something that blew my mind. It was a basturma brisket sandwich, a version of Armenian pastrami, and lahmajoun, a flatbread, all prepared inside a tiny ghost kitchen in Glendale.

Even though it was a tiny, unassuming space, I knew I’d tried something extraordinary. When I went back to the office, I told my editor I’d found L.A.’s next best restaurant. The type of food that keeps you thinking about it well after the meal is over.

The legendary basturma brisket sandwich, now discontinued.

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She’s learned to follow my instincts, even when they seem slightly overblown, and my resulting piece on Yerod Mas Bakery & Deli reflected my strong belief in what this place could become.

Over the years, word of its quality spread far and wide. In January it was successful enough to open a brick-and-mortar location nearby. And now it's just been named one of the 50 best restaurants in the country by the New York Times.

You heard it here first, folks.

The sandwich

Ironically, the basturma brisket sandwich had become notorious for another reason — its price: $38. Large enough to be shared with two people, it featured a thick-cut seasoned brisket and melted Swiss cheese, with house-made pickles and slathered with chaman spread, all served on aish baladi — an Egyptian flatbread similar to pita. It's based on a recipe from Grigoryan's Armenian grandmother, who grew up in Egypt.

But when you sell a sandwich for more than $20 in L.A., people start to talk — especially online. Negative attention from Reddit threads and TikTok influencers began to pile up for the small restaurant.

Arthur Grigoryan cooks outside his restaurant Yerord Mas.

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"There was one evening where I only had six tables in my dining room, and four out of the six tables had their tripods out, just recording."

It was clear that many, mostly influencer types, were there just to comment on the price point and whether it was “worth it,” without much consideration beyond what went into the sandwich. At a certain point, the viral attention no longer felt worth the volume of negative attention tied to the sandwich's price.

In addition, building the sandwich from scratch was a serious undertaking for a small restaurant.

"Essentially 70% of our labor was just for that sandwich."

The Chi Kyuftah, available only on weekends, is a steak tartare dish made with bulgur, red onion, pomegranate molasses, Aleppo pepper.

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Grigoryan made the decision to take the sandwich off the menu purely as a business decision — not simply to silence internet trolls.

While talking about the sandwich, it's apparent Grigoryan has complicated feelings about the place it holds in his restaurant's story.

"It was a blessing," he said. "But at the same time, it was also a curse."

The power of vindication

While Grigoryan battled it out online, often publicly reposting on his own Instagram, plenty of others weren't deterred. Positive reviews from both the L.A. Times and the New York Times came pouring in. It was then that Grigoryan realized he'd been internalizing too much of the negative energy the sandwich attracted online, admitting to himself that he was going too hard on himself.

What's next

These days, things feel different at the small bakery and deli, with this newfound attention. It feels much more like where they wanted to be when they first opened the restaurant, with the menu now consisting of a handful of rotating dishes, like a hanger steak kebab, the Aleppo-style kebab served with sour cherry sauce, and a seasonal yogurt kofte soup.

The fattoush salad at Yerod Mas, with heirloom tomatoes, watermelon radish, and pita croutons in a lemon-pomegranate vinaigrette.

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The recent attention from the New York Times has clearly increased sales. Grigoryan says the hanger steak kebab sells out regularly, and on good days the restaurant feeds about 120 people a night, not bad for a restaurant that only seats 21 people at a time.

That’s all to say that Grigoryan and Petrosyan seem content where they are. They take pride in what they've built independently, with no investors — remaining a mom-and-pop spot that serves culturally significant dishes to their community and the rest of Los Angeles.

Personally, I feel extremely privileged to watch Yerod Mas get the attention they so rightfully deserve, especially having played a part in that. But the reality is, the food is that good. Go try it out for yourselves.

A federal appeals court on Thursday rejected the Trump administration’s latest attempt to sideline the L.A. region’s lead homelessness agency from a $239 million federal funding process, clearing the way for the agency to complete an application due next month.

The three-judge Ninth Circuit panel denied the federal government's request for a stay pending appeal, which would have paused a lower court's order blocking its June suspension of LAHSA.

The decision Thursday allows LAHSA to continue to function and steer funding for local service providers who rely on that money to offer services and housing for unhoused people.

“This ruling provides greater stability at an important moment for Los Angeles,” Stephanie Graves, chair of LAHSA’s governing board, said in a statement. “Most importantly, it gives our region the opportunity to keep people housed, help more people find a path home, and give people hope,” her statement continued.

The judges wrote in the latest decision that the federal government failed to adequately explain why an immediate suspension of LAHSA in June was necessary to protect the public interest.

That suspension was put on hold in August by U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, who ordered the federal government to restore LAHSA’s role in the region’s federal homelessness funding process while the case plays out.

Carter's injunction on LAHSA’s suspension is currently set to expire on Oct. 27.

The question of whether HUD’s suspension of LAHSA was ultimately lawful is still headed for trial, with a hearing before Carter expected in February.

What’s this fight about?

The legal dispute, at this stage, has focused primarily on who gets to control some key decisions about how $239 million in federal U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grants are spent on housing and services for unhoused people in L.A.

The nationwide deadline to apply for that funding is next week, on Sept. 30, although HUD recently extended the deadline to Oct. 14 for L.A.-area applicants.

HUD’s rules require service providers and public agencies in places like L.A. County to form local geographic bodies called “continuums of care” and designate one agency to apply on behalf of the whole region for federal funds dedicated to solving homelessness.

L.A.’s regional body designated LAHSA as that one agency.

This year, LAHSA staff have been working since April with homeless service providers and other municipal partners to prepare a funding application according to HUD’s guidelines.

Then HUD’s June suspension of LAHSA stymied that process.

The appeals court said the timing of HUD’s suspension left the Los Angeles region in the lurch since the suspension came after a deadline to name another designated applicant had passed.

“HUD chose to suspend LAHSA at a time when it would leave the Los Angeles region particularly vulnerable,” the panel wrote.

Ben Kay works for a homeless services nonprofit and leads L.A.'s Continuum of Care Board. In a statement shared with LAist, Kay said "HUD’s attempts to impose its agenda on our community have created uncertainty and chaos in Los Angeles."

He said the Ninth Circuit ruling recognizes that there is a local legal right to set priorities for addressing homelessness.

Alternatives considered

HUD’s proposed alternative — allowing individual service providers to apply directly for federal funding — was “extremely difficult if not virtually impossible to implement,” the judges wrote.

That approach, according to HUD’s lawyers, would ignore much of LAHSA’s prior decisions about how to spend federal dollars.

“HUD, in the direct to HUD process, will not rely on any priorities set by LAHSA,” Weili Shaw, a U.S. Department of Justice attorney, said at a hearing in the case held Tuesday in San Francisco. “That's expressly what HUD wants, is not to have to rely on LAHSA’s allocation and prioritization decisions.”

Thursday’s court decision means that the direct-to-HUD process is off the table, at least for now.

On Wednesday, a regional homelessness body recommended that, in case LAHSA remained suspended, L.A. County departments could handle the region’s application instead. That body, the L.A. Continuum of Care, is also soliciting applications for organizations to take on LAHSA’s key federal roles beginning next year, including the annual federal funding application and the homeless count.

LAHSA has indicated it will not compete to keep those roles itself next year. Other local government agencies, including L.A. County’s Department of Homeless Services and Housing, have applied to take those roles sometime in 2027.

What LAHSA said in court

At Tuesday's hearing in San Francisco, the panel focused on the fast-approaching deadline.

Keri Curtis Axel, LAHSA's attorney, argued her client is the only entity actually prepared to make that deadline.

She also said dozens of local homeless service providers who rely on LAHSA to apply on their behalf wouldn't qualify to apply under HUD's alternative process, potentially cutting them out of guaranteed funding entirely.

Attorneys for the Los Angeles Continuum of Care, the regional body responsible for coordinating the application said that HUD never gave it a real opportunity to name a replacement for LAHSA for the process happening now.

Attorney Shayla Myers told the panel her client formally asked HUD whether it could designate a new collaborative applicant during a 30-day response window this summer. HUD never responded, she said, instead proceeding with plans for its own direct-to-HUD process.

The fight over LAHSA's suspension took on new urgency since the First Circuit Court of Appeals revived HUD’s controversial funding guidelines last week. That cleared the way for HUD to reopen this year's funding competition on a tight timeline.

Gita O’Neill, LAHSA’s interim CEO, said the agency “is moving full speed to finalize” the L.A. region’s federal funding application, due Oct. 14.

“Our priority has always been keeping frontline services running and ensuring that federal funding reaches our service providers,” O’Neill said in a statement.

LAHSA’s leader also said the agency will work with HUD to make sure that previously approved grant funding is promptly disbursed and will continue to prepare for January’s 2027 homeless count.

HUD has until Dec. 1 to announce this year's awards under a congressional deadline.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said in a statement that it “stands by the lawfulness” of its suspension of LAHSA.

“The Department will comply with the Ninth Circuit's temporary order, which was made in part due to the quickly approaching deadline for CoC applications,” a department spokesperson said.

“HUD looks forward to seeing the Ninth Circuit's full resolution on the merits,” the statement continued.

A status conference in the original case — which will ultimately decide whether HUD’s suspension of LAHSA was legal — is currently scheduled for Sept. 30 in Judge Carter’s courtroom.

The Ninth Circuit is scheduled to hear oral arguments Oct. 19 on HUD's appeal of the preliminary injunction. The appeals court Thursday declined to pause the injunction while the case moves ahead, keeping it in effect. But the October hearing is where the judges will decide whether to uphold or overturn it.