Sent to the Los Angeles Times on February 26, 2015
Mr. Blume:
Your seemingly heavily biased piece today cites several who have made millions from the charter industry (e.g. Borden, Chang, and Austin), and even quotes right-wing millionaires like Hastings. No doubt giving them the only voices in the piece, and casting the simplistic accusation that this is an issue of teacher union versus charter industry "heroes" is the easiest way to win Karin Klein's go-ahead.
Would have been nice if you considered citing a single public school supporter in the community. Karen Wolfe, David Tokofsky, Dr. Cynthia Liu, Ellen Lubic, Sonja Luchini, Scott Folsom, and a host of others that believe in public schools, rather than privately managed charters, should be able to speak for the large part of the community that doesn't stand for either union interests or charter sector greed.
As the runner up in the 2013 election, and a widely cited essayist on education, I'm always available for thoughts on these things as well. However, I understand that my speaking truth to power makes me somewhat of a threat to the deep pocketed interests in the charter industry. That said, I think we should be asking the question: "why is it that Rodriguez can run for the LAUSD PUBLIC school board, but NO member of the PUBLIC can run for his PUC charter empire board?"
Robert D. Skeels
*********@ucla.edu
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