Compton Schools Feud Flares Anew

In the latest episode of a political drama, Compton Mayor Omar Bradley’s sister, a school board trustee, was arrested at a school board meeting for allegedly disturbing the peace, officials said Wednesday.

Carol Bradley Jordan was handcuffed and carted off to the Compton police station where she remained for 45 minutes Tuesday, Bradley said.

At a news conference Wednesday, the mayor called for a federal investigation. The incident grows out of a continuing power struggle between local officials and Randolph E. Ward, the state-appointed school administrator, over control of the district’s 38 schools.

The state took over the district in 1993 because it was bankrupt and its students scored lowest in the county on standardized tests. The seven-member school board now serves in an advisory capacity.

Tuesday’s brouhaha erupted just as the superintendent was about to swear in Leslie Irving for the school board. He recently appointed her to fill a vacancy over opposition from several city officials and school board members.

Jordan grabbed the microphone from Ward to prevent Irving’s swearing in and began yelling, Compton school district spokeswoman Vivien Hao said. The meeting was adjourned to a closed-door session where Irving was to take her oath of office.

But Jordan allegedly continued her disruptive behavior. “She was arrested outside the closed session after she tried to disrupt it,” Hao said.

At the police station, Jordan, a Los Angeles teacher, was charged with disrupting a public meeting and released on her own recognizance, Compton police Capt. Steven Roller said.

“My sister was arrested because she wanted to attend a closed session, which by law she is allowed to do, and she was told she could not,” the mayor said.

Later, Jordan went to a hospital to be treated for high blood pressure and bruises from being handcuffed, Bradley said.

The confrontation shook many of those attending the meeting. “People got scared. They didn’t know what she was going to do,” said Gorgonio Sanchez Jr., who was elected school board president after the incident. “It was outrageous. It was unprofessional.”

After Jordan’s arrest, two school board members who support her, Saul Lankster and Bernice Woods, stomped out of the meeting.

The controversy has been brewing since January when Ward appointed the 33-year-old labor relations consultant to fill a two-year vacancy on the board. City officials challenged the appointment, saying it was not made within the 60-day legal limit for filling such vacancies. Last month, a Superior Court judge upheld Irving’s appointment.

Recently, the school board has deadlocked 3 to 3 on several votes. Irving’s vote can break that tie.

Jordan’s arrest is the latest round in a battle that has been heating up between city officials, who want to regain control of the school district, and state officials, who believe their stewardship is best for Compton students.

City officials last week had a roofer arrested at McNair Elementary School because he followed school district orders to repair a roof during school hours. Bradley maintains his sister was arrested in retaliation for the roofer’s arrest.

Last year, a dozen Compton parents, backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, sued the state Department of Education to expedite repairs of dilapidated schools. The suit was settled.

None of this infighting has fazed Irving, who once was a student in the district. “I’m hanging in there,” she said. “I still think I can make a difference.”