Canter won’t seek third board term

Two-term school board member Marlene Canter, 60, will not seek a third term, she said this week. Her “purely personal” decision creates a wide-open contest in District 4, which stretches across most of the Westside and part of the San Fernando Valley.

Canter’s best-known initiative was leading efforts to ban sodas and junk food, while also improving the nutrition, taste and accessibility of school breakfasts and lunches in the Los Angeles Unified School District. She said she also took pride in, among other things, pushing with her colleagues for an increased focus on accountability that has led to improved academic results.

Canter, who started a successful teacher-training business, self-financed her initial bid for office and was never regarded as politically beholden to forces vying for influence over L.A. Unified, including the teachers union and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

“She remained independent of the giant funding sources of mayors and billionaires and unions, and that made her especially thoughtful in terms of guiding the institution and the kids it serves,” said former board member David Tokofsky.

-- Howard Blume