With our free press under threat and federal funding for public media gone, your support matters more than ever. Help keep the LAist newsroom strong, become a monthly member or increase your support today.
Teachers Union Officially Revokes Endorsement Of LAUSD Candidate
A Los Angeles Unified School District bus arrives to James Monroe High School on the first day of the fall semester on Monday, Aug. 14, 2023.
(
Ashley Balderrama
/
for LAist
)
Topline:
The union representing 35,000 Los Angeles Unified educators voted Monday night to withdraw its endorsement for Board District 1 candidate Kahllid Al-Alim. Al-Alim apologized in February for antisemitic social media activity.
The backstory: Al-Alim is a longtime community organizer and L.A. parent. In February, users of X, formerly known as Twitter, began sharing screenshots showing Al-Alim liking and sharing antisemitic posts. In one, Al-Alim writes that a book that promotes debunked, antisemitic ideas about the relationships between the Black and Jewish communities should be mandatory reading for students. Al-Alim apologized and said he would seek trainings about countering antisemitism.
Why now: UTLA suspended its campaign for Al-Alim about a week after Al-Alim’s prior social media activity resurfaced. The decision to un-endorse Al-Alim, like the original decision to support his candidacy, came after several groups of union educators met and voted. The union’s 250-member House of Representatives finalized the decision Monday night.
Sponsored message
Who else can I vote for? Al-Alim is one of seven candidates running to represent the Mid-City and South L.A. communities of Board District 1. If no candidate wins the majority of the vote in the primary, there will be a runoff between the top two candidates in November.
Losing a powerful partner: Teachers Unions Often Pick Winning School Board Candidates. Will This LAUSD Election Be Different?
Trending on LAist
-
The audit's findings highlight long-standing issues at LAHSA and raise new questions about how large pools of public money are being spent. -
L.A. politicians tried to resist President-elect Donald Trump’s policies during his last term. What can they do to fight this time? -
A fast-burning fire in the mountains was pushed by exceptionally strong and dry Santa Ana winds, burning thousands of acres, destroying homes and forcing evacuations. -
Taking our sweet time is a feature, not a bug, of our election system. -
The contract Steel directed to her campaign mail vendor in 2020 charged taxpayers about $24 per meal, three times as much as vendors charged in two other Orange County supervisor districts, according to an LAist review of contracts. -
One UFO researcher called Big Tujunga Canyon a “window area” for paranormal encounters.
Best of LAist
