Los Angeles Teachers’ Strike Settlement

Although well-intentioned, Los Angeles Board of Education board member Leticia Quesada’s column (“L.A. Must Take a Stand on Schools,” Op-Ed Page, May 24) is both contradictory and naive.

Referring to the teachers’ strike, she acknowledges that neither school officials nor the board “has done a good job of informing the community about how schools are funded, how negotiations take place and what role the city can play in shaping school policies.”

How, then, can she proceed to admonish us for being asleep, not knowing how much money the district has, ignoring the politics of those on both sides of the current issue and failing to be present at negotiations?

After more than 15 years of involvement with the city schools as a member of parent support groups, citizen advisory councils and assorted school committees, I can assure her that there are no avenues for the kind of support she seeks. Community groups know only what school officials want them to know and none are empowered to shape policy.

The ABCs of the recent crisis are clear. The administration deferred to the board, at least one of whom fantasized that the community could get them both off the hook. The real lesson to be learned is as follows:

Quesada and her colleagues were elected to provide the leadership she seeks from others and their inability to prevent the dispute evidences the erosion of local control. As the problems in L.A. Unified continue to mount, only the Legislature can tame the behemoth and “take a stand on schools.” It is Sacramento she should be speaking to, not Los Angeles.

KAY STAUB

Encino