Hayden to Speak at Candidates Forum

State Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles) will be the featured speaker at a candidates forum Tuesday at Van Nuys High School.

The forum, which will begin at 7 p.m., will also feature remarks by Los Angeles Unified School District board member Julie Korenstein as well as Jeff Tung, Billy Bauman and Ethel Barnes, the challengers seeking to unseat Korenstein in the April 8 election.

The forum will begin with remarks by the LAUSD school board candidates followed by a question-and-answer session, said school Principal Russ Thompson.

The school board candidates session will be followed by a presentation on Proposition BB, the ballot measure earmarking $800 million for improvements to 223 public schools.

The measure failed to garner the necessary two-thirds majority for passage in November and will reappear on the April ballot.

Hayden, who hopes to oust Mayor Richard Riordan from his post, will speak last.

Riordan was invited to the event, Thompson said, but declined due to a scheduling conflict.

The Van Nuys High School chapter of the Junior Statesmen of America organized the forum to boost political awareness among students, said chapter president Sharon Ronen.

“I am thrilled to give my peers and the community a chance to personally question and gather information on the upcoming elections,” Sharon said. “It really brings democracy down to the community level.”

The event is free to the public. The school is at 6535 Cedros Ave.