2020 LAUSD ELECTIONS

Leaders Are Built In Times Of Crisis

Treating every child as if they were his own, school board member Scott Schmerelson moved mountains to get LAUSD students out of harm’s way.

“It was a no-brainer. They had to move and we moved them.”

- Scott Schmerelson

Five years ago, the effects of decades of negligence by the Southern California Gas Company came to a head as a corroded pipe sprung a leak at the Aliso Canyon storage field. Concerned neighbors noticed a foul smell but were told that there was nothing wrong. This cover-up lasted for “months” as people in the area “were left in the dark” as the utility company refused to offer a comprehensive explanation about what was going on at the site.

In the months that it took to cap the leak, more than 100,000 tons of methane leaked from the site, doing untold damage to our atmosphere. Thousands of residents had to be temporarily located as they fled immediate negative health effects and unknown long term damage. In schools near the site, “about 50 children per day saw school nurses for severe nosebleeds.”