“Ahead of the November general election, the Southern California News Group compiled a list of questions to pose to the candidates who wish to represent you. You can find the full questionnaire below. Questionnaires may have been edited for spelling, grammar, length and, in some instances, to remove hate speech and offensive language.
MORE: Read all the candidate responses in our Voter Guide
Name: Scott Schmerelson
Current job title: School Board Member/Teacher/Counselor
Political party affiliation: Non-Partisan
Incumbent: Yes
Other political positions held: School Board Member
City where you reside: Los Angeles
Campaign website or social media: https://boardmemberscott.org/
1. As the second-largest school district in the nation, LAUSD serves a diverse community of staff, parents and students. What are your top priorities for the district, and how will you incorporate community voices? (Please limit to 250 words)
My top priority, as always, is school safety. Our students, faculty, and staff must know that their campuses are clean, safe, and healthy places to learn. No one knows the needs of a school site better than the parents, teachers, and administrators at the local school. I continue the fight to give local schools greater control over budget issues. As I look forward to my final term, I plan to continue my efforts to support school site staff and modernize our schools to meet the needs of our students. During my tenure on the Board, every school in Board District 3 has received funding for repairs and nearly $1 billion for facility improvements. For me, ensuring Valley schools get the funding they deserve is critical. This is where my 50+ years of experience in education are most valuable, I have seen how money can be wasted by this district, and that is why I always stay on top of the budget like a hawk.
2. California is spending billions on its K-12 public school system and yet schools are seeing declining enrollment. How would you handle the financial impacts of declining enrollment? (Please limit to 250 words)
Enrollment is declining throughout California due to significant changes in demographics and immigration patterns. It is also a fact that housing construction lags behind need and many young families cannot afford to live in Los Angeles. LAUSD has been using the changing demographics to our advantage. For the first time in decades, schools have space to offer additional educational opportunities. Working with the State of California, LAUSD’s Universal Transitional Kindergarten (UTK) is now seeing tens of thousands of four-year-olds enrolled on campuses where work on literacy and early math skills can commence allowing children to enter traditional education on grade level.
3. LAUSD lags behind other California school districts in reading and California has one of the lowest literacy rates in the U.S. What are your thoughts on the best way to increase literacy rates? (Please limit to 250 words)
Urban school districts across the country struggle with literacy rates, yet LAUSD is considered one of the leaders in the nation in raising the levels of literacy in both native and non-native English speakers. This has not been easy to achieve and has taken a lot of resources and dedication among the faculty and staff of LAUSD to learn and use cutting-edge programs like Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) starting in UTK. This program, and others like it have given us the ability to get our kids off to a good solid start.As our students move through elementary and middle school we have dramatically increased intervention opportunities with programs and resources designed to identify, diagnose, and remediate with precision using cutting-edge AI technology like I-Ready. These opportunities are already up and running and being used every single day.I’m very proud of the fact that schools in Board District 3 are some of the highest-performing in the district and Board District 3 consistently has the highest literacy rates in the LAUSD.
4. Charter schools are prominent in Los Angeles, but the district’s relationship with L.A.’s more than 200 charters is tense. How do you think the district should handle the division of resources between charter and district-run schools? (Please limit to 250 words)
In my time as a school board member, I have been a strong advocate for high-quality charter schools in my district if that is what the local community wants. I work closely with the community and charters to make sure that their needs are met. For example, I was instrumental in helping El Camino Charter High School get its football field replaced. My good relations with the charter schools in Board District 3 is why I am endorsed by the teachers in the three largest charter schools in Board District 3 and by members of the Board of Directors at two of the three largest charter schools in the Board District. There is tension between charter schools and neighborhood schools that are co-located and much of that tension was stoked and exacerbated by a department in LAUSD that was not providing the Board with correct information on what state law says. That has now been rectified and it is my sincere hope that with clarity on what the actual law says, much of the tension will abate.
5. The trauma and learning loss caused by COVID-19 will be felt for years. How do you propose the district should continue to address these issues? (Please limit to 250 words)
Many people would be shocked to know that much of the academic learning loss from COVID-19 has been erased in LAUSD schools. Test score data from last year confirms that while there is still work to be done, we are approaching pre-COVID numbers in our test data. While the academic data shows improvement, the social and mental health impact remains. A 10-year-old child who went into isolation at the beginning of COVID-19 spent up to 18 months (or 15% of their lives) at home. Kids are still impacted and still in need of support. My 50+ years as a teacher, counselor, and administrator is why I pushed so hard to dramatically increase the district’s psychological social worker, counselor, and nurse workforce. In addition, we have dramatically increased professional development among our faculty and staff in recognizing the signs of trauma and how to address it. As part of that effort, and keeping in mind all of the medical data about kids and phones, the School Board took the step of banning the use of cell phones on campus. While I have reservations about how that will be rolled out, I argued strongly for a local control approach to this rule as the faculty, staff, admin, parents and students are the ones best equipped to decide how to implement this.
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