Training Session Saturday for L.A. Schools Councils

A training session on Saturday will instruct parents and the public in the Los Angeles Unified School District on how to run for seats on the shared decision-making councils at their local schools.

Teachers make up half of the councils and the other half consists of parents, community representatives, administrators and, at the high schools, one student. Elections for parents and community members will be held next month. Teachers were elected before the end of the last school year.

The councils are a key provision of the contract that teachers won after a nine-day strike in May. They will make decisions on discipline, spending, scheduling of activities, staff training programs and use of school equipment.

School districts in Rochester, N.Y., Seattle and Dade County, Fla., have shared decision-making or school-based governance, said Andy Cazares, assistant superintendent in charge of school-based management. But forming councils at the more than 700 schools, children’s centers and adult schools in the Los Angeles district is the most extensive effort in the country to give teachers and parents more power in school management, he said.

Decisions Binding

The councils are different from PTAs and advisory councils because the councils’ decisions are binding, Cazares said.

Parents and others who live or work within a school’s enrollment boundaries are eligible to serve on that school’s council and vote for representatives. Nominations can be made as late as the election meetings at the schools, which will be Oct. 3 and 12 for elementary schools, Oct. 5 and 17 for junior high schools and Oct. 10 and 19 for high schools.

Each council will have six to 16 members, depending on the level of the school and its number of students.

During Saturday’s workshop, Cazares will discuss the election process and the councils’ functions. In small groups divided according to school level, principals, teachers and community members can discuss their expectations of the councils.

The workshop, sponsored by Mark Slavkin, Westside’s representative to the school board, is from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Webster Junior High School, 11330 W. Graham Place, Los Angeles. For more information, call (213) 625-6387.