Doran blog

In L.A. Schools: Shootings, a Food Fight and Mayor Villaraigosa vs. UTLA

COMMENTARY | To say that the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is beleaguered would be an understatement. Interestingly, a lot of its problems are of its own making. What's going on with California's largest public school system?

Meet the LAUSD

The massive California school district commandeers a . Of these funds, $312 million are devoted to food service that offers breakfasts and lunches to LAUSD students. Personal safety of students and staff is ensured by theLos Angeles School Police Department.

Problems at LAUSD's Gardena High School

By all accounts, GardenaHigh School was a problem waiting to happen. With four sex offenses, seven weapons possessions and eight batteries in the , there is a clear indication that all is not well.

Granted, the incidents of weapons possession are down by 10 (when compared to the prior fiscal year) but even so the school " and consistently ranks at the bottom of the state's lowest achieving schools list."

Adding insult to injury, reports now suggest that intermittent security magnetic wand-use did not take place as directed.

Food Fight!

While children are getting shot, LAUSD is engaged in a food fight with , who planned on bringing reality TV cameras and nutritional food choices into L.A. school cafeterias and kitchens. Blaming a school board that refuses him access, Oliver is now seeking to mobilize parents.

Oliver claims that they "don't want me looking at what's going on and showing it to the public." Right, wrong or indifferent, he does bring up a good point: why are cameras not allowed into a state-funded operation?

LAUSD vs. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa vs. UTLA

In a surprising change of direction, L.A. Mayor Villaraigosa came down hard on the United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) when calling them "."

In what amounts to an exercise in serial and circular finger-pointing, teachers blame the lack of funding, politicians blame the teachers' union, the union blames the bureaucracy and parents blame all of the above.

In fact, parents are increasingly looking for alternatives "while government officials and the teachers unions try to figure out what went wrong."

Union Proclaims Itself Reform Leader

Ask the UTLA, and you get a completely different picture of the situation. The union considers Mayor Villaraigosa to be "" and touts union-led and teacher-instituted reforms. Part and parcel of its success, the union asserts, is a loosening of the "grip of L.A. Unified bureaucracy."

Going full circle, the union blames LAUSD bureaucrats for the problems that plague the unwieldy giant.

In the Final Analysis...

If you have not noticed much in the way of actual solutions, you are not alone. In between glad-handing and backslapping (or back-stabbing), there is precious little forward movement. Need more proof? After the Gardena High School shooting there was a meeting for parents.

One parent is quoted as stating that "she was irritated byon their reaction to the shooting" and that the rest of the meeting was characterized by "vague responses about improving security."

Sylvia Cochran is a Los Angeles area resident with a firm finger on the pulse of California politics. Talk radio junkie, community volunteer and politically independent, she scrutinizes the good and the bad from both sides of the political aisle.