Quezada Is 1st Latina to Head L. A. Schools

On the 26th anniversary of her arrival in the United States, Leticia Quezada on Monday was elected president of the Los Angeles Board of Education, becoming the first Latina to hold that post.

Elected on a 6 to 1 vote, Quezada will succeed Warren Furutani, who presided over the board during the 1991-92 school year.

In remarks to the board, an emotional Quezada noted the personal triumph of an immigrant girl from Mexico growing up to lead the governing body of the nation’s second-largest school system. But she said she also was aware of challenges facing the board as the district continues to diversify ethnically and struggles to stay afloat during its worst fiscal crisis.

“I’m proud to serve as the 1992-93 board president, probably the toughest job in the state of California,” Quezada said. “We have trimmed $1.2 billion in the past three consecutive years at a high cost to our students and our employees. Frankly, we are tired of being the messengers of budget cutting, while Sacramento refuses to bring a humane balance between revenues and expenditures.”

Quezada, 38, was elected to the school board in 1987 and represents the Eastside as well as such Southeast cities as Bell, Huntington Park and South Gate. The first Latina elected to the board and currently its only Latino member, Quezada has been one of its strongest advocates for bilingual education. She recently lost a primary election bid for Congress.

Her election also coincided with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund’s filing of a federal lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles that contends school board boundary lines are illegal. The lines were supposed to have been redrawn by July 1 to help bring about the election of a second Latino member.

Quezada called it “maddening” that the City Council could not agree on the concept of carving out a second Latino seat on the seven-member board. “What’s at stake here is representation for the Latino community,” she said.

The only board member to oppose Quezada’s selection as president was Julie Korenstein, who had favored another year of Furutani’s leadership. Korenstein’s West San Fernando Valley district would be dismantled under the remapping plan being considered by the City Council.

The district has 639,000 students, of whom about 64% are Latino. Enrollment in the district has been predominantly Latino for almost a decade.