Election-rule questions tie up school vote results

Even as a majority of teachers and parents at several schools decided this week to join Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s reform effort, a dispute over election rules called into question results at two of three high schools he had aggressively courted.

The discrepancy didn’t stop Villaraigosa from claiming what he called a historic victory for some of the lowest-performing schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

At some campuses, the results were clear: Roosevelt High School in Boyle Heights and two nearby middle schools -- Hollenbeck and Stevenson -- voted to join the mayor’s Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, a nonprofit that will take over management from the school district. Markham and Gompers middle schools in Watts also went with the mayor, who promised richer, safer and more successful schools with more autonomy to manage their own affairs.

Parents voted overwhelmingly at each school in favor of Villaraigosa despite low turnout. At Hollenbeck, a school of about 2,600 students, just 277 parents voted; 72% of them sided with the mayor. At Stevenson, a school about the same size, 90% of the 217 parents voting chose Villaraigosa’s partnership.

Villaraigosa said the support underscored a desire for the local control he has promised.

“By voting to join the partnership, parents and teachers said yes to lower dropout rates, yes to higher student achievement and yes to safer campuses,” Villaraigosa said at a news conference at Markham, where he was flanked by teachers, parents, students and school district officials.

Rules promulgated by Villaraigosa’s office and the school district required yes votes from a majority of voting teachers. Stricter rules approved by United Teachers Los Angeles, the teachers union, and repeatedly endorsed by district officials, required a majority of all faculty at each campus to vote yes.

Most of the teachers who voted at each school went with the mayor, which is why he claimed a clean sweep.

Even at Jordan High School in Watts, where the margin was the closest, 54 teachers voted for the mayor, while 51 voted no. District officials said there were 121 union members eligible to vote. That set the threshold for a majority at 61 votes, under the guidelines put forward by the teachers union.

Villaraigosa’s aides, however, pointed to final election rules that they said set a lower threshold. (The wording they cited: “Fifty percent plus one of certificated staff in the UTLA bargaining unit votes.”)

Neither the mayor nor the teachers union is inclined to back down. If the mayor yields, he could claim outright victory at only one of the three high schools. If the union leaders relent, they would be violating a resolution passed by their members, which could damage reelection prospects next year for union president A.J. Duffy and his allied officers.

Whatever the case, teachers at several schools were confused.

“We never got a straight answer, and now the question is more important than ever,” said veteran Jordan teacher Miranda Manners. “We are waiting to hear the results of the vote.”

By UTLA rules, the mayor also fell short at the Santee Education Complex, a high school south of downtown. A solid majority of voting teachers supported the mayor -- 82 to 47 -- but dozens didn’t vote, including many on vacation at the year-round school. Santee teachers are to meet today to discuss extending the voting period until their colleagues return to work. Technically, that would violate election rules fashioned by the mayor’s team and the district; they stipulated a one-day election.

Parents at Santee voted 203 to 10 in favor of the mayor.

At Roosevelt, the teachers’ vote was 152 to 62 in favor of the Villaraigosa plan; the parent vote for the plan was 441 to 104.

The close call at Jordan, in particular, revealed sharp divisions among teachers, as well as lingering mistrust of Villaraigosa, especially among some African American faculty who questioned the mayor’s commitment to black students. There also were black teachers who faulted the school district for failing to educate African Americans; they wanted to give the mayor’s plan a chance.

Improving a school that is not united behind a reform plan can be especially difficult, if not impossible, said Mike Kirst, a professor emeritus of education at Stanford University.

“If you don’t have enthusiastic teacher support coming in, it’s harder to get once you’re there,” he said. “You have to persuade people who are reluctant. It makes the job harder and more risky.”

And the job will be hard. Urban school districts across the country have struggled to improve middle and high schools. New research conducted by L.A. Unified itself underscores the point. Researchers have discovered that problems with the lowest-performing students first become obvious in elementary school. At this point, Villaraigosa has yet to recruit elementary schools into his plan.

At the afternoon news conference at Markham, Villaraigosa and Supt. David L. Brewer touted not only the mayor’s partnership plan but also two Westside schools that will team up with Loyola Marymount University. They said other school-community partnerships are expected.

“We are unleashing the power of Los Angeles to create a world-class education system,” Brewer said.

duke.helfand@latimes.com

howard.blume@latimes.com