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July 25, 2013



Representing BOARD DISTRICT 4
Brentwood, Del Rey, East Hollywood, Encino, Hollywood, Mar Vista, Marina Del Rey,
Pacific Palisades, Playa Del Rey, Tarzana, Topanga, Westchester, West Hollywood,
Westwood, Woodland Hills and Venice

Friends,

 

On July 2nd I was honored and humbled to take the oath of office for my second term as your Board Member for LAUSD District 4. Representatives from our LAUSD family administered the oath - a cafeteria worker, a principal, a teacher, a PFLAG parent and two recovered students who had dropped out and now are on the road to graduation - each of us and all of us are LAUSD. 

 

My oath of office could not be complete without each member of the family. The same is true of the transformation we seek for public education in Los Angeles.

 

It will take us all working together. For those of you who could not join us on July 2nd, here is the video of my speech and the corresponding transcript.

 

What a summer it has been. From the promise of the Supreme Court decision striking down Proposition 8 to the great potential of the Senate's long awaited action on Comprehensive Immigration Reform to the inauguration of our new Mayor, Eric Garcetti. 

 

Indeed, we could have called this a Summer of Hope.  But then last weekend, we were all reminded of how far we have to go. None of us rests easy knowing that racial profiling and murder continue to go unpunished in this country. 

 

The outcome of the George Zimmerman trial reminds us that race still plays a role in how our institutions perceive and react to young men and women of color.  For all of us as parents, teachers, brothers, sisters, mothers, sons and daughters the verdict in Sanford calls on us to look inside our hearts and towards our community. To recommit ourselves to the difficult work it will take to create a different future, with different outcomes, inspired by deep self-reflection, struggle and sacrifice. 

 

I urge you to take a moment to listen to our President acknowledge the persistence of institutional racism and the work that lies ahead.

 

Here in LAUSD we have a vital role to play. Public education in Los Angeles is at a crossroads. Never have I been more convinced that we stand on the brink of true transformation if we choose a road forward that challenges us to work together in ways we never have before. 

 

The A-G implementation initiative gives us a once-in-a-generation chance to change outcomes and tear down the barriers of institutional racism. It gives us the chance to create change by harnessing the powerful energy and the specific agenda necessary to implement this initiative with fidelity and transform the educational trajectory of a generation.

 

In order to implement A-G in this way, we must all own our past and our present. The promise of public education has been realized for some in Los Angeles, but we know in our hearts it has not been realized for all.  It has largely not been realized for the poor, for African American students, for Latino students and for immigrant students. And we are all responsible. Whether it has been low expectations fueled by institutional racism, private sector campaigns designed to undermine public institutions, criminal underfunding of public education or substandard instruction, this didn't happen by accident. 

 

And it did not happen because our students are not capable or because their parents do not care. It was intentional. Reversing it requires us all to be even more intentional.

 

The critical struggle to change outcomes for all students will require us to believe in ourselves and believe in each other in new and different ways. It will require all of us to work harder and to be better. It will take resources and resolve. But more than anything else it will require a new interconnectedness

 

Truly changing outcomes for all students must force us to understand that if the promise of public education is only realized for some students, it is a broken promise for all students and every community.

 

Achieving this change will take all of us. We all must have the courage to stand together, exposed and vulnerable, at the dynamic intersection of individual and collective introspection. 

 

I believe in us and I believe in the promise of public education. I believe it can be a promise realized for every child. 

 

When we look into the eyes of the kindergarten students who will walk through the classroom door for the first time in just a few weeks, it is not hard for us to believe in them. But will they look back at us and feel as confident? Can each of them look us in the eyes and believe we will do the hard work necessary to make this promise real? 

 

This is the moment for us not to look away, not to avert the gaze, not to back down from the consequence.

 

Together, we can be a different LAUSD.  

 


Best Regards,
Steven Zimmer 
LAUSD District 4 Board Member