Pugliese for School Board

This old, dead Republican mayor had every intention of endorsing Jon Lauritzen for school board but something funny happened on the way to my keyboard.

I learned a lot more about candidate Louis Pugliese.

I came to realize my only reason for supporting Lauritzen was that he wasn't Tamar Galatzan.

To be sure, my reasons for opposing the election of Galatzan remain. I have serious questions about her ability as well as her motivations for seeking election to the school board. She was recruited by Mayor Villaraigosa's effort to take control of the school board. She has zero educational experience and is primarily basing her campaign on the fact she has a child about to reach school age. That puts her in league with probably about one million other parents in Los Angeles. She also touts experience as a city attorney that will help her review District contracts. That's great experience if she wants to apply for LAUSD legal counsel but hardly to manage the school board. And the fact that some say she allegedly plans to run for the City Council in two years is disturbing.

To be fair to Lauritzen he can't be tagged with all of the ills of the LA Unified. Galtzan and her supporters conveniently forget that for the last several years the school board was captained by the Mayor's protege Jose Huizar. Still, he has hardly amassed a stellar record as a school board member and not being Tamar Galatzan alone is not sufficient enough to re-elect him.

Louis Pugliese has a long and distinguished record as an educator. He is also a teacher of teachers working as a lecturer in CSUN's teacher training programs. Pugliese is nationally recognized and has a track record for turning around under-performing schools. Just as important is Pugliese's progressive ideas about education. He's prepared to teach students how to be succesful in today's world without a lot of politically correct nonsense or just teaching kids what they need to know to pass tests. He is willing to say that not kids are right for college and that vocational education opportunities are sorely needed. He also recognizes that some kids are super smart and could potentially finish high school as early as the 10th grade and move on to college where they won't be intellectually bored.

His plans are detailed, you can read them at http://www.smartenupla.com/.

Getting back to my original plan to endorse Jon Lauritzen - and why its vitally important to reject Tamar Galatzan - I had to come to a conclusion. We often talk about voting for the lesser of two evils and that many of the best candidates we don't vote for because conventional wisdom says they have no chance.

It came down to a decision if not me, who? If not now, when? I will support Louis Pugliese and hope he wins, but even if the worst case scenario happens and Tamar Galatzan is elected I can at least hold my head up and say I voted for the best candidate.