School Board Member Quits Her Job at IBM

Los Angeles Board of Education member Caprice Young resigned Friday from her job at IBM after being informed by the board’s counsel that the Political Reform Act prohibits her from holding both positions.

Young, who took office July 1, said she had been advised by the district’s former general counsel that she needed only to refrain from voting on matters concerning her employer. Young said she has recused herself on one vote.

However, the board’s new special council, Richard H. Sheehan, came to a different conclusion when Young asked him for a written opinion on how to avoid a conflict of interest. Sheehan, she said, told her the law prohibits a person who has worked for a profit-making company for less than three years from holding office in a public agency with which the company does business. Young had worked as a team manager for the computer giant for two years and five months when she joined the board.

Facing a choice between her job and the school district, Young said, she concluded that “obviously, 700,000 kids are more important.”

She said she will seek employment with a firm that has no contact with the district.