Robert D. Skeels: a community candidate for LAUSD School Board

"Alongside this began a sharp rise in the costs of elections, which drove the political parties even deeper into the pockets of the corporate sector." — Professor Noam Chomsky

Readers have probably already seen the news of how the morning after I trounced the incumbent at a local candidate forum, that NYC Mayor Bloomberg increased my opponent's already obscene campaign fund by a whopping $1 Million. We had begun our campaign early, because we knew that the corporate reformers would "up the ante" this election cycle, but I don't think anyone anticipated the right-wing Coalition for School Reform (CSR) would raise over $2.5 Million in support of the corporate candidates for the March 5, 2013 election. This is significantly more than they raised last election cycle.

The intractable Los Angeles Times asked me for a quotation on the latest plutocrat donation to the corporate CSR slush fund. As their custom, they only used an out-of-context sentence fragment from my quote. Professor Diane Ravitch, on the other hand, used my full quote along with an introduction:

Robert Skeels is a pro-public school candidate in Los Angeles. He has raised $15,000. He will not get anything from Eli Broad or Michael Bloomberg.

He comments:

The LA Times asked me for a quote on Bloomberg's $1 Million CSR donation. Here's my response: "As a community candidate who has raised over $15,000 through myriad small contributions from local parents, community members, and classroom teachers, I find it dismaying that a single out-of-state billionaire has a greater voice in our school board election than all the working families of District 2. Where were these millions of dollars when the incumbent callously cut early childhood education, adult education, and K-12 arts last year?"

I'm not expecting to out-fund-raise the billionaire boys club, but every donation counts. If you believe in public education, and have followed my work on schoolsmatter.info and other sites, then you know what I stand for. If you're in Los Angeles, we can use your physical help with precinct walking, phone banking, and letters to the editor. If you aren't in town, consider a donation. We're a few weeks out, and the last minute help can make all the difference.

Community candidate video

Award-winning documentary film-maker Chris Hume captured footage and interviews from the Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD School Board campaign's third weekend of precinct walking on January 19, 2013. Filmed on 1st Street in Boyle Heights at Purgatory Pizza just prior to the group going out to talk to voters. Featured in the video are two widely respected educators whose support is greatly appreciated.

• Dr. John Fernandez — Teacher, Theodore Roosevelt High School (Ret.) and former Director of the Mexican-American Education Commission for the LAUSD.
• Martha Infante — 2009 CCSS Teacher of the Year, National Board Certified Teacher, Past-President Southern CA Social Science Association, proud public middle school teacher.

Here is the text of our latest campaign flyer:

Trusted by Community, Rooted in Community

Robert D. Skeels' longstanding as a principled community activist has won him broad support with families, community leaders, and grassroots organizations. LA Schools Report recently wrote about him: "just one School Board candidate [is] running a truly grassroots campaign built on dozens of volunteers and more than a hundred small contributions of as little as $5 — and little else by way of outside support." Robert's record of defending schools like Garfield HS from outside takeover, siding with public school parents against colocations, advocating for the rights of special needs students, and standing up against the incumbent's cuts to early childhood education, elementary arts, and adult education has demonstrated that he will aways fight for the community and stand up against corporate interests.

Trusted by Education Experts, Rooted in What Works

Because of his extensive education policy knowledge and deep understanding of local issues, Robert D. Skeels is the only District 2 candidate endorsed by both United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) and Associated Administrators of Los Angeles (AALA). Robert is also endorsed the former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education, Dr. Diane Ravitch, and many other national and local education experts including: Professor Stephen Krashen, Professor Paul L. Thomas, Professor James Horn, Dr. Rosemary L. Lee, Dr. John Thompson, Dr. John Fernandez, Susan Ohanian, and Cheryl Ortega. A regular contributor to education websites like the nationally recognized schoolsmatter.info, Robert is an advocate of what works in education, not expensive fads or wasteful experiments. He supports proven, research based methods of pedagogy, including dual language immersion programs, project based learning, free voluntary reading with ample access to libraries, and critical studies.

Supporting Programs that Serve Our Community

The current LAUSD leadership has a long history of squandering our community's money as evidenced by massive spending on useless assessments, expensive consultants, highly discredited value added methodologies, and nine figure real estate giveaways to lucrative charter corporations. Instead of looking to cut the former expenses, LAUSD leaders have targeted programs that our communities depend upon most — Early Education, Student Readiness and Language Development Program (SRLDP), Elementary Arts, and Adult Education. The Superintendent and LAUSD Board of Education President have continually balanced the budget on the backs of the working people. Robert D. Skeels has been on the forefront of every struggle to fight budget cuts and to save programs critical to our community.

---

Public education activist, researcher, and writer Robert D. Skeels has lived, worked, and organized in District 2 for over 18 years. He and his wife, Yoon Jung Lee, make their home in Historic Filipinotown. Robert is a U.S. Navy Veteran. He attended Glendale Community College and the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). Robert taught Catechism at St. Teresa of Avila Church for 12 years. For the past 15 years he has volunteered ten hours a week teaching life and literacy skills at the Mary Lind Foundation. Robert is a committed member of a number of grassroots education and immigrant rights organizations including Coalition for Educational Justice, Public Education and Social Justice Advocacy, The Trinational Coalition To Defend Public Education, The Southern California Immigration Coalition, and Veterans for Peace. Robert's articles and essays have appeared in publications including: Schools Matter, CounterPunch, Dissident Voice, Daily Censored, Echo Park Patch, and The Los Angeles Daily News.

Robert's campaign website is www.robertdskeelsforschoolboard.org

---

RT @rdsathene Supporter sent this perfect juxtaposition of the 1%'s Mayor with a 99% #LAUSD School Board Candidate! twitter.com/rdsathene/stat…

— RDSkeels4Schoolboard (@RDSkeels4LAUSD) February 18, 2013

Last week was a busy week for the Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD School Board campaign

Monday saw Robert D. Skeels at the Northeast Democratic Club (NEDC) where he and three other candidates, including the incumbent, were asked a series of questions in addition to making an opening statement. The questions were challenging and policy oriented, allowing each candidate's fundamental principles to show. The incumbent, who easily thought she'd win the endorsement, lost heartily with only 70 of the 110 necessary votes to win. We believe that this vote of open endorsement along with the one earlier this month at the Los Angeles County Democratic Party, demonstrates that Los Angeles Democrats have grown tired of the harmful right wing policies embodied by Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) and anti-public education reform leaders like the incumbent School Board President. We think these open endorsements indicate people had been waiting for a progressive alternative to Los Angeles education politics long dominated by DFER and the like.

On Tuesday, Robert participated in the third of the candidate forums held by the grassroots organizations comprising the District 2 Neighborhood Coalition. Held at the Boyle Heights Senior Center, the forum was somewhat relaxed compared to the previous evenings' NEDC debate. Audience members were able to ask questions and the format allowed the candidates to flesh out their positions.

On Wednesday Robert D. Skeels learned that he had been endorsed by the Progressive Democrats of Santa Monica Mountains.

On Friday Robert received exciting news that he had earned another critical endorsement—The Associated Administrators of Los Angeles (AALA), who represent administrators in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Only one District 2 candidate has been endorsed by the unions representing the vast majority of Certificated Personnel. Only Robert D. Skeels is endorsed by United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) and Associated Administrators of Los Angeles (AALA). The professionals know who to trust on matters of policy and pedagogy. He has also been endorsed by a broad range of academia, education experts, immigrant rights organizations, veterans, and community groups. A list of featured endorsement appear on his campaign website. That evening Robert attended a meeting of Adult Education Teachers to learn more about Governor Brown's proposed changes that include folding adult education into the already overburdened and underfunded community college system. While a position paper will be released sometime in the future, Robert expressed that he opposes the plan that would make adult adult education less accessible to the community and pulls parents off of their children's K-12 campuses.

Saturday morning was an exciting time with the campaign's third precinct walk held in Boyle Heights. The first two were in Lincoln Heights, then Historic Filipinotown respectively. Award-winning documentary filmmaker, Chris Hume, captured footage and interviews from the Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD School Board campaign's Boyle Heights precinct walking. Filmed on 1st Street in Boyle Heights at the location of our gracious sponsor, Purgatory Pizza, just prior to the group going out to talk to voters.

Featured in the video are two widely respected educators whose support is greatly appreciated.

• Dr. John Fernandez — Teacher, Theodore Roosevelt High School (Ret.) and former Director of the Mexican-American Education Commission for the LAUSD.
• Martha Infante — 2009 CCSS Teacher of the Year, National Board Certified Teacher, Past-President Southern CA Social Science Association, proud public middle school teacher.

Our group of over twenty-four volunteers canvassed Boyle Heights. We learned that the incumbent's event just south of us had fewer participants. That evening the candidate attended an event held by the Trinational Coalition, CEJ, and PEAC to see educator and author Dr. Lois Weiner and Chicago Teachers Union Staff Director Jackson Potter speak at UTLA.

Sunday afternoon consisted of a group of adult education student volunteers phone banking at Robert and Yoon Jung's house, which has become campaign central for many activities. Another documentarian came to interview Robert during that time. Afterwards, everyone enjoyed pupusas from Pupuseria Menchita, who are staunch supporters and are displaying our campaign placard.

Over the same weekend the campaign received additional endorsements from Anne Zerrien-Lee, Vik Chaubey, Marcy Winograd, Ingrid Villeda, and Martha Sanchez.

This weekend is shaping up to be as exciting as last. We're having a press conference and precinct walk in Koreatown on Saturday. Hope to see you there.