Riordan’s Influence on L.A. School Board

Re “Forces Behind the Vote,” Feb. 16: You quote Richard Riordan as saying he wants “independent-minded” school board candidates. Not true. Riordan wants board members who are independent as long as their votes agree with what he believes is right, and, arrogantly, he is sure he is always right. Riordan called me his hero, a revolutionary reformer, until I said no to his direct and specific order to vote against a decent rise in teachers’ salaries.

I believe the best way to improve public education is to have well-qualified and trained teachers in the classroom. The only way to ensure that is to pay them adequately. Riordan told me to vote for an exact figure, down to the hundredth decimal point, even though the superintendent had already placed a higher number on the table. You don’t have to be a labor relations expert to know that you cannot go backward in salary negotiations without causing a strike. A strike would have had a disastrous effect on the district. I refused to follow his orders.

Riordan immediately pulled his support from me, although I had consistently proposed and voted for reform, even before his slate of “reform candidates” was elected to the board. I do not doubt that Riordan cares deeply about children, but he believes that he’s the only one who knows how to improve their educational opportunities.

Valerie Fields

Former Los Angeles School

Board Member, Los Angeles