FIGHTING FOR SPECIAL EDUCATION

Purge Interrupted

The LAUSD Board pulls approval of the disputed CAC roster from its agenda. Will the district use this delay to fix a broken system?

“The CAC shall consist of members who are selected by their peers and then formally appointed annually by the LAUSD Board of Education.”

– LAUSD SELPA

Historically, the membership approval of the Community Advisory Committee is a formality. The LAUSD bureaucrats submit their list and the LAUSD Board rubber stamps it. While the selections may not be perfect, there is usually not enough controversy to even take the matter off of the consent calendar for further discussion.

This year, the District staff at the Office of Student, Family, and Community Engagement (SFACE) and the Special Education Division went too far in exercising their power over the process. Instead of using a scalpel to remove members they considered troublesome, the bureaucrats took a sledgehammer to the roster and rejected almost every member who was up for reelection, including members of the leadership team.

In response to this purge, the current Chair of the committee, John Perron (JP), with the backing of many of its members requested that approval of the roster proposed by District staffers be pulled from the agenda…