The School Board Needs Hayes

The election of Genethia Hayes--along with newcomers Caprice Young and Mike Lansing and incumbent David Tokofsky--would provide a majority on the seven-member Los Angeles school board committed to putting instruction and children first. Put- ting Hayes in the office should be the highest priority for all parents and voters who are tired of the excuses for why public school children can’t achieve academic excellence.

Hayes, running in District 1, which covers South and Central Los Angeles, forced incumbent Barbara Boudreaux into a June 8 runoff for a good reason. The district’s parents are fed up with poor reading and math scores, among the lowest in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Residents are also frustrated by too many inexperienced and ineffective teachers, a situation that hurts student achievement. The four senior high schools represented by Boudreaux for the past eight years had the district’s lowest numbers of students going to college.

Both candidates are African American women, but the similarity stops there. The contrast was most evident during Wednesday’s debate at Dorsey Senior High School. Hayes correctly characterized this race as a contest to improve the public schools. Boudreaux described it as Mayor Richard Riordan’s fight to control public education. Yes, Hayes is supported by the mayor. Yes, the three other candidates backed by Riordan won during the primary. Yes, the mayor wants to make a difference in the public schools, and Hayes is part of that team. But Riordan’s support of reformers is not the issue. The failure of public education should be the main concern of the candidates, and the voters.

Finally, instead of pointing to accomplishments for the schoolchildren of Los Angeles, Boudreaux resorts to the personal. She suggests that Hayes is a “plantation” candidate controlled by the white power structure. In addition to there being a hint of desperation in the false charge, it simply can’t stick to Hayes: She is the executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and has a long local history of civil rights activism and bringing different kinds of people together. Hayes looks ahead, not back, and appreciates the fact that the city is a rich mix of many cultures.

Hayes has high expectations of all children because she understands that to expect less is to accept less. The school board is in aching need of her common sense. Vote for Genethia Hayes on June 8.