LAUSD must heal breach of trust with the public

Doug McIntyre – John Deasy is no pushover. Neither are the taxpayers of Los Angeles.

Put them together in one room and you have an explosive town hall meeting like last week’s Daily News-sponsored “Thrilla in Woodland Hilla” at El Camino Real Charter High School featuring Los Angeles Unified school board member Tamar Galatzan on the under-card and Superintendent Deasy as the main event.

As referee for the evening I had a ringside seat – always risky, since I’m famous for my glass jaw. I was constantly on guard to block Galatzan’s lightning-quick right hook and Deasy’s devastating left jab. I was bobbing and weaving all night around haymakers coming from all directions as a conga line of teachers and taxpayers champed at the bit for a piece of Deasy, Galatzan and yours truly.

And who can blame them? If you’re not angry you’re not paying attention.

Last April, John Deasy took the superintendent’s job with the knowledge he was inheriting a district in perpetual turmoil. The superintendent’s job has been a revolving door, with superintendents coming and going like Yankee managers under George Steinbrenner. Along with them came promises of reforms – reforms that always seem to die on the vine. How many billions have been spent on school construction?

And now the new guy wants more – a $270 parcel tax.

At the town hall the early-ed and adult-ed teachers said, “YES!” to the taxes while retirees and homeowners drowning in upside-down mortgages

via Doug McIntyre: LAUSD must heal breach of trust with the public – LA Daily News.

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