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General Election School Board Candidates Finalized
The Los Angeles County Clerk’s preliminary certification of the primary results shows no change in the winners but a clear shift in momentum.
“We do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.”
– Thomas Jefferson
Two major scandals marked the LAUSD School Board primary elections. First, the Charter School Industry candidate in BD5, Graciela “Grace” Ortiz, was sued by a student who claimed the candidate had not done enough to protect her from a sexual assault at gunpoint, something Ortiz referred to as an “unfortunate occurrence”. Then Kahllid Al-Alim, the UTLA-endorsed candidate in BD1, was outed for a Tweet saying that a book that many view as anti-Semitic should be assigned reading in LAUSD classrooms.
In the initial March 5th election results, it looked like both candidates would escape accountability for their actions. The results from those who had voted early and uncontested in-person votes showed Al-Alim and Ortiz in the lead. However, both were far from the 50% + 1 they needed to avoid a runoff.
