2020 ELECTIONS

School Board Candidate Doesn’t Want You To Pay Attention

Tanya Ortiz Franklin says that given the current protests, we should not ask questions about the charter schools that support her campaign.

“dwelling on some of these questions is pointless right now.”

- Palisades Charter High School Board Member

When I was forwarded a link to the Palisades Charter High School’s governing board meeting where they approved taking money from a program meant to help small businesses during the recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, I could not believe how brutally honest they were. The members of the board recognized that their actions would possibly take money from businesses which had an immediate need for the funds, that their school’s current conditions did not dictate that they had an immediate need and that they did not have a plan to spend or pay back the money. Still, they voted unanimously to “get the money while the getting’s good”.

Before writing the article summarizing Palisades’ morally questionable decision to access the Payroll Protection Program, I contacted the four remaining candidates in the LAUSD’s November election to ask for their input on the issue. As a starting point, I suggested that they could answer any of the following questions: