Opponents in Schools Race Agree on Reform

At the kickoff Monday of a series of forums for the Los Angeles school board election, both candidates agreed with a committee of civic leaders who advocate a radical change in district practices.

Before a small but boisterous audience, board member David Tokofsky and his 5th District opponent, Yolie Flores Aguilar, asserted repeatedly that Los Angeles schools are in crisis, and that radical reform is needed to raise student achievement.

Tokofsky focused on reform of “a tired bureaucracy that doesn’t want to look in the mirror and see how low the scores are.”

Flores blamed the school board directly, saying that Tokofsky should hold himself accountable.

About 150 people came to the highly publicized forum at Nightingale Middle School in Cypress Park. Most were strong partisans of either Tokofsky or Aguilar.

The forum was the first of four sponsored by the Committee for Effective School Governance, a group of 26 business and education leaders who have called for all members of the school board, including those three of the seven-member board not facing election April 13, to adhere to five business-oriented principles.

The principles include forming a strategic plan, setting measurable goals and objectives, providing clear authority to Supt. Ruben Zacarias, and shortening board agendas to focus only on the most significant issues facing the district.

The committee has mailed 107,000 invitations--divided among the four districts whose board seats are up for election next Tuesday--to the forums, which continue tonight in North Hollywood.

The $140,000 mailing was financed by personal contributions from some committee members and by corporate and nonprofit donations. Also mailed was a survey on the committee’s program, the results of which are expected this week.

Both candidates used the forum to step up criticisms of each other.

Tokofsky repeatedly linked Aguilar, a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Education, to the “feel-good” approach to teaching language, which he said survived in the county long after it was abandoned around the state.

Aguilar held Tokofsky accountable for the excessive size and environmental problems of the $200-million Belmont Learning Complex, even though he voted against it.

“All board members must take responsibility for the fiasco at Belmont,” she said.