Sign Up For Our Newsletter

LAUSD PR fiasco

Looks like LAUSD shot itself in the foot chest of late.  From the LA Daily News:

Would Superintendent Roy Romer, or some other ranking LAUSD official, care to explain why, exactly, the district needs the services of an expert in public relations and political campaigns?

The Los Angeles Unified School District has a monopoly over schooling for most kids in L.A. It has no product to sell, no competition to worry about. Its only concern should be providing the best possible education to the 700,000 students in its care.

Yet like the shameless Department of Water and Power – another monopoly that needlessly hired flacks to bolster its image – the LAUSD has called in the spin doctors to manipulate public opinion. And now it’s spent $1,500 or more of taxpayer money to bring in a bunch of activists and parents from around the country to lobby against Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s education-reform plan because they don’t like the reforms taking place in their towns.

If the district wants some public-image advice, here’s some for free: Get serious about fixing your problems, improving education, lowering the dropout rate. Slash the massive bureaucracy and hold staff accountable. Empower parents. Stop kowtowing to the demands of public-employee unions and neglecting the needs of communities.

And from the LA Times, on Tuesday’s attack of the takeover plan where the board flew in parents from other mayoral takeover cities:

The tirades from these ringer parents prompted some whoops of approval from the audience as members of the board sat back with satisfied smiles.

The smiles faltered a bit when the mother from New York complained that Bloomberg standardized the curriculum throughout the district. One of the L.A. administration’s proudest accomplishments has been standardizing the reading curriculum, which improved scores in the elementary schools. And the Chicago father’s pep talk turned awkward when he railed against charter schools for giving parents no voice. The board has approved more charter schools than any other board, and the schools are so popular that L.A. parents queue up for spots in them.

The bash — in both senses of the word — turned more somber at the end, when the meeting opened to L.A. parents. Several lambasted the district, saying that their experience with the board was not exactly welcoming. One parent noted that this was the first time her group had been invited to a meeting. If the board weren’t feeling the heat from Villaraigosa, she said, such an invitation would probably never have come. Her remarks seemed to embarrass the board members — or maybe they finally realized what an embarrassment the afternoon’s charade had been.

And if you think they’re angry, just check out this guy.