Meet—And Grill—LAUSD School Board Runoff Candidates Today

It’s probably not news to anyone whose children to go to LAUSD schools in Eagle Rock that Bennett Kayser, a former LAUSD middle school science and health teacher as well as a member of the United Teachers of Los Angeles, is running in the May 17 runoff election for the LAUSD School Board, District 5. His rival is Luis Sanchez, a former school board president chief of staff.

What’s not widely known is that several voluntary organizations in Eagle Rock have invited these two candidates to square off on Wednesday in a candidates forum scheduled to be held at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium of .

The forum is co-sponsored by the , the Eagle Rock Elementary PTA as well as TERA (The Eagle Rock Association). The idea was proposed by Eagle Rock Elementary President Jason Fox and PTA member Carol Klauschie, following the ERNC’s overwhelmingly successful candidates forum with Councilmember José Huizar and Rudy Martinez last February, ERNC President Michael Larsen said. Eagle Rock Elementary Principal José Posada has generously offered his school’s auditorium for the event.

For those who missed it, the LAUSD board runoff election resulted from the fact that neither candidate attained the required 50 percent of the vote in April's election. The initial race as well as the runoff campaign have been acrimonious, reminding some people of the bad blood between Huizar and Martinez in the run up to the City Council District 14 elections in March.

Both Sanchez and Kayser have accused each other of corruption and influence peddling—and each has retaliated against the other's attacks through campaign proxies.

Sanchez has reportedly accused Kayser of not paying his property tax. In turn, Kayser has accused Sanchez of breaking the rules by , not to mention living it up on luxury trips at taxpayers’ expense. In their campaigns, aimed at fixing LAUSD’s numerous woes.

What’s more, neither has come out with concrete ideas about how to fix a desperately broken school district in which 30.4 percent of high school seniors failed to graduate in 2008-2009, according to the California Department of Education, and which faces record deficits and teacher layoffs.

“The District 5 board member is a crucial position for parents and advocates who have a stake in the future of public education in Eagle Rock,” said ERNC President Larsen. “We must choose wisely and be informed about our choice—there is too much at stake at this point in time especially to be apathetic or uninformed.”

Larsen added that while “we will welcome the candidates warmly,” the event sponsors will put the candidates’ “feet to the fire on crucial issues that affect our children and our community here in Eagle Rock.”

Anyone with an interest in LAUSD issues is encouraged to attend and come prepared with questions for the candidates. As Larsen put it: “It's important to make our voices heard.”