Valerie Fields in School Board Race

Former mayoral aide Valerie Fields, who helped link Tom Bradley to the Westside, education and arts and entertainment establishments, has declared her candidacy for the Los Angeles school board seat being vacated by former board President Mark Slavkin.

Fields, 69, is the first person to announce her bid and so far is the only person seeking the seat in the 4th District, which extends from Westchester to Porter Ranch. A former elementary school teacher for the Los Angeles Unified School District, Fields said Monday she decided to run because she couldn’t think of anyone else to fill Slavkin’s seat.

“If I didn’t run, I would’ve been quite unhappy if someone who wouldn’t have the best interests of the children at heart [were] elected,” she said.

Fields’ vast political network has garnered her a string of endorsements in the two weeks since she began her campaign. Several City Council members, state legislators and numerous community leaders already have backed her. And her campaign is expected to get a major boost Wednesday with the expected endorsement from United Teachers-Los Angeles, the powerful city teachers’ union.

UTLA president Day Higuchi said Fields’ history as a teacher and the more than 20 years she spent in city government made her an appealing candidate for school board. Fields was the only school board candidate interviewed by the union’s political arm, Higuchi said.

“Across the board she’s got an amazing range of people who are endorsing her from both sides of the political fence. She understands the issues that are important to teachers, and I think all that makes her a strong candidate who’s right on the issues,” Higuchi said.

Slavkin is stepping down after eight years on the Board of Education. In addition to Fields, observers have floated the name of school principal Gerald Horowitz as a possible candidate to succeed Slavkin, but Horowitz, an unsuccessful school board candidate in 1989, denies the rumors have any basis.

“I have made a commitment here to the school,” said Horowitz, who heads Byrd Middle School in Sun Valley.

Fields first taught school in New Jersey before moving to Los Angeles in the 1960s, where she taught primary grades for nine years. From 1973 to 1993, she worked as one of Bradley’s top aides, spending more than 15 years as his education advisor and liaison to the L.A. Unified and community college districts. She also served as representative to West Los Angeles, the Jewish and Muslim communities, and worked with executives in the arts and entertainment business.

Since leaving City Hall, Fields has worked as a consultant in the arts and helped form “Jazz in the Arts,” an educational music program that offers free masters classes for students.

Although she lives on the cusp of the Valley, just off Mulholland Drive, Fields was an Encino resident for more than 20 years, which she said helps her identify with Valley concerns about education.