LAUSD Candidates Break Silence, Debate Tonight in Eagle Rock

After a month of almost complete silence in Northeast Los Angeles, LAUSD School Board District 5 candidates Bennett Kayser and Luis Sanchez will square off tonight at 7: 30 p.m. at .

The two are competing in a run-off election scheduled for Friday, May 17, prompted by a close race in March that could not be verified because no candidate was able to earn at least 50 percent of the vote.

Sanchez, a former city commissioner and the current chief of staff for LAUSD Board President Monica Garcia, won 48 percent of the ballots cast by voters within the school district during the March 8 city-wide elections. Irving Middle School teacher and Echo Park resident Bennett Kayser, reeled in 35 percent of the vote.

A stronger than expected showing by long time teacher and administrator John Fernandez, who won almost 16 percent of the vote, seems to be responsible for pushing the closely contested race to a runoff, in which he will not be able to participate. 

Fernandez had initially won the endorsement the United Teachers of Los Angeles, which the union later recinded citing concerns about his honesty and integrity related to undisclosed tax liens and a bankruptcy on his record.

Kayser and Sanchez have yet to debate in Highland Park or Mount Washington since the March 8 statelmate, and their previous at School was heavy on philosophy and nearly devoid of concrete solutions for the desperately struggling school district.

In late March, Kayser filed a complaint with Jennifer Bravo of the City Ethics Commission, claiming that his opponent was soliciting donations prior to the certification of the March 8 election results.

Kayser said it violated Commission restrictions on candidates’ fundraising before a runoff election is certified, and put him at a “unfair disadvantage.”

A full article regarding Kayser's complaint can be found .

The forum is co-sponsored by the , the Eagle Rock Elementary PTA as well as TERA (The Eagle Rock Association). The idea was proposed by Eagle Rock Elementary President Jason Fox and PTA member Carol Klauschie, following the ERNC’s overwhelmingly successful candidates forum with Councilmember José Huizar and Rudy Martinez last February, ERNC President Michael Larsen said. Eagle Rock Elementary Principal José Posada has generously offered his school’s auditorium for the event.

Anyone with an interest in LAUSD issues is encouraged to attend and come prepared with questions for the candidates. As Larsen put it: “It's important to make our voices heard.”