2024 LAUSD Elections
Tanya Who?
After being missing in action for most of her first term, LAUSD Board Member Tanya Ortiz-Franklin files to seek re-election in BD7.
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Take A Stand For Educational Equity”
– Tanya Ortiz-Franklin
During her 2020 campaign, LAUSD Board Member Tanya Ortiz-Franklin presented herself as someone who would be singularly focused so as not to be distracted from addressing issues affecting the students of the District. For example, when I asked her for a statement on an article I was writing about an education issue, she admonished me for asking anything besides “Black lives mattering and…racial justice” in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder. Also when she was asked for comment on a revelation that she had been kicked off the Del Rey Neighborhood Council for being absent for 61.5% of the meetings, her campaign stated that “she left the neighborhood council regretfully” because she was unable to “commit the time and still fully serve the students of the LAUSD”.
Unfortunately, this focus did not follow Ortiz-Franklin into office as she has often left her constituents feeling unrepresented. The most obvious example is her lack of leadership during environmental crises affecting her board district. When the students of Catskill Elementary School were being affected by a long-term “nauseating odor” emanating just less than two miles from their campus, she was a no-show at an event where she could have addressed their concerns. Her office was also silent as the Harbor Area dealt with the supply chain crisis that had left trucks idling on neighborhood streets, spewing toxic fumes into the air. Students cannot achieve “Educational Equity” when they are missing school due to asthma attacks and other side effects of being bombarded with truck exhaust.
Even on her signature issues of “Black lives mattering and…racial justice” Ortiz-Franklin has fallen flat. This is especially true when these “values” interfered with the needs of her campaign funders from within the charter school industry.
