Melvoin Watch

LAUSD School Board Member To Seek Reelection

Months after the filing window opened, Nick Melvoin files to keep Board District 4’s seat in the hands of the charter school industry.

“In November of 2019, I joined the community at Fairfax High protecting the BIPOC special need students from a hostile takeover of their school. I stood next to an African American young man with Autism and I thought, ‘Who would do this to him?’ I understand why Nick Melvoin got elected, people were asleep in 2017. But now in 2021, Board District 4 is awake and we can do better.”

- Tracy Cook, Board District 4 Constituent

Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Board Member Nick Melvoin has been a valiant fighter for the charter schools that educate 20% of the students in the district. He was caught red-handed passing confidential information to the California Charter School Association (CCSA) as the charter school lobbyists sued the district in an attempt to stop bond funds from being used to make school campuses more accessible to those with disabilities. Melvoin and Monica Garcia were the lone votes to renew Prepa Tec charter school for another five years despite the fact that only 3.26% of this school’s students met state standards in math and the school was $485,718 in debt and had no cash reserves. He openly mocked me for asking why the LAUSD had allowed the Community Preparatory Academy (CPA) to operate for five years despite obvious fiscal and academic concerns. The former Executive Director for this school later pleaded guilty to embezzling 3.1 million. As I speculated, she was using the charter school as her own personal piggy bank during the five years the school was allowed to operate by the LAUSD.