Dismantle the District
What the San Fernando Valley really needs is not a strong, unified influence on the Los Angeles Unified District School Board (“Final OK of Remap Proposal Blocked,” Times Valley Edition, July 1).
What the Valley really needs is a school district of its own.
If the LAUSD were a publicly held company, the board members would have been fired for incompetence years ago. There is no way that a school district the size of Rhode Island can possibly address the various and pressing needs of over 800,000 students of hundreds of ethnicities, languages, cultures and socioeconomic strata.
The budget crisis is only part of the problem, albeit a major concern. The biggest problem facing the district today is a lack of support and confidence from both its employees and constituents. A recent Louis Harris Poll found that taxpayers will consider increased funding for schools provided they are convinced that it will not be mismanaged.
Local school districts with neighborhood control can provide that security. Clearly, LAUSD cannot. The district must be dismantled now, before an entire generation of children is sacrificed.
JILL REISS
Northridge
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