In the next few months FREE's application will wend its way through the county and state educational systems, placing more and more pressure on those resisting reform. District leaders, including school board President Genethia Hayes and incoming interim Superintendent Ramon Cortines, have said this is not the time for such a split. Cortines has asked breakup proponents to give his administrative reform program time to work. And Hayes said the new board is working vigilantly to undo years of terrible decisions, but it needs more time as well. If Hayes and Cortines succeed, they will have concrete arguments to use in their attempt to scuttle breakup.
Parents are tired of empty promises.
Children are not getting the educational tools they need to get into college and compete in the fast-paced, highly specialized work force. Hayes and Cortines truly want to reform the district, that isn't in question. We have long argued that the children of Los Angeles would have a better chance of getting a better education sooner if power was brought back to the community and new districts were formed from the top down. And nothing that's happened so far has provided any basis to change our mind. The clock is ticking.