Araz Parseghian has endorsed Imelda Padilla for LA Unified’s District 6 seat.

Sarah Favot

Imelda Padilla has secured endorsements from two former competitors in her bid for the LA Unified seat representing the east San Fernando Valley.

Araz Parseghian, who came in fourth out of six contenders in the March 7 primary, announced on social media Saturday he is supporting Padilla. Padilla said Monday that she also has the support of Jose Sandoval, the sixth-place finisher in the primary.

Padilla faces Kelly Gonez in the May 16 runoff election for the District 6 seat on the LA Unified school board. Gonez, a science teacher at a charter middle school in South LA, was the first-place finisher in the primary, receiving 37 percent of the votes cast, while Padilla, a community organizer, received 31 percent of the votes.

If you add the number of votes Parseghian and Sandoval received to Padilla’s vote count, it surpasses the number Gonez received by about 3,400 votes.

“I feel like Imelda is a true leader that will have a voice on the board where she has that aggressive personality that’s pretty much what we need for our community here,” Parseghian said.

“She is a product of the LAUSD school system, she’s lived in the district for all her life and she’s homegrown so I think she understands a little bit more about the community,” he said.

Parseghian said he met with Padilla and Gonez and looked at the financial donors to each of their campaigns and asked the candidates if they knew the people who have given them money. He said he would expect a candidate to know the donors or at least reach out to them if they didn’t know them.

“I didn’t see that from Kelly’s side,” he said. “Imelda pretty much knew each individual by name or at least there was some kind of a tie.”

Gonez has received the endorsement and financial support from the California Charter Schools Association Advocates and other education reformers, while Padilla has the backing of the local teachers union, UTLA.

Parseghian, a loan officer and first-time school board candidate who is on the boards of the LA Valley College Foundation and the Glendale Police Foundation, said it was a difficult decision to endorse.

“There were a lot of factors in play where one had some strong suits at the federal policy level, the other one had community involvement, which at the end of the day kind of trumps the federal side of things,” Parseghian said.

Gonez worked as an education policy adviser in the Obama administration. Last week, she received the endorsement of her former boss, former U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

“He knew that I was genuine about understanding his community,” Padilla said of Parseghian’s ties to the Armenian community. During her campaign, Padilla said she supports ethnic studies being taught in LA Unified schools, which she believes should include lessons about the Armenian Genocide.

“I’m excited to have him be a partner and a new friend moving forward,” she said.

Former state Assemblywoman Patty López, who came in third in the primary receiving 12 percent of the votes, said Monday that she has not yet decided if she will endorse in the runoff.

Gwendolyn Posey, who came in fifth, did not respond to a request for comment on whether she will endorse.

Source: http://laschoolreport.com/imelda-padilla-scores-endorsements-from-two-former-competitors-in-lausd-school-board-bid/

LOS ANGELES—The Los Angeles Unified School District Board on Tuesday voted unanimously to not renew the charters of two schools operating under the Gulen-affiliated Magnolia Science Academy.

The Magnolia Academy 6, a middle school in Palms and the Magnolia Science Academy 7, an elementary school in Northridge, were both slated to be shutdown after an LAUSD audit deemed them insolvent based on IRS standards due to a $1.7 million deficit and charged financial misappropriations by the school administrations. The audit also found that the school had

However, in late July LA Superior Court Judge Luis A. Lavin granted an injunction in order to not disrupt the student community, but ordered a strict investigation into the finances of the MERF and the Magnolia schools. Lavin’s ruling means that the schools will remain open after Tuesday’s vote but their charters will not be renewed for operation beyond that.

This ruling comes a week after the Joint Legislative Audit Committee called for a statewide audit of the Magnolia Science Academies of California, which runs 12 tax payer-funded charter schools in the state that have ties to the Gulen Institute, affiliated to the Turkish cleric Fettulah Gulen.

The audit, requested by State Assemblymember Adrin Nazarian, brings forth major concerns of misappropriation of tax payer funds of the 12 Magnolia charter schools and their parent company, the Magnolia Education and Research Foundation (MERF).

“Charter Schools play an important role in the public education system by delivering a high quality education to our students. I am deeply troubled that public education funds are being abused by the Magnolia Academies. It was important to bring this request forward to ensure that our tax payer dollars aren’t being misspent, at the expense of the students, and the taxpayers who support public education.” said Nazarian.

On the national level, Gulen-affiliated schools have come under investigation for questionable financial practices, to filling teacher positions with often unqualified people brought in from Turkey.

Gulen-affiliated charter schools in Arizona, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Texas and New Jersey have been under investigation by the FBI since 2011.

Imelda Padilla scores endorsements from two former competitors in LAUSD school board bid

LAUSD Will Not Renew Turkish Imam Gulen-Linked Schools’ Charters