George McKenna, third from left, officially became the seventh member of the LA Unified school board today, representing District 1, after he was sworn in by Rev. Jesse Jackson, left. Congresswoman Maxine Waters, second from left, and Danny Bakewell, publisher of the LA Sentinel, far right, also participated in the brief ceremony, which preceded the...

The sides are digging in. With the holidays offering no break for the forces pushing to fill the vacant LA Unified school board’s District 1 seat, factions have firmly aligned behind US Representative Maxine Waters, for an appointment, and LA County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, for an election. Whatever the six board members decide at a...

The LA Unified school board today postponed until next month any consideration of how to fill the board seat left vacant by the death of Marguerite LaMotte, bowing to a wave of pleas from speakers asking the board to wait until after her funeral. A 3-3 vote on a motion to allow discussion to begin...

Just a day after US Representative Maxine Waters was actively pressing the LA Unified school board to appoint a candidate she favored to fill the vacant school board seat, she reversed herself today and is now urging the board to delay any action until next year. As a press conference she said she is doing...

UPDATE | 10:50AM At a press conference, US Representative Maxine Waters softened her position of favoring an appointment and asked the school board to delay today’s vote. As the LA Unified school board gears up for today’s meeting, only one thing is certain: it will be controversial. The highest profile issue on the agenda is...

A day after the death of the LA Unified school board’s only African American member, Marguerite LaMotte, community leaders with ties to her south Los Angeles district began speaking out about how to fill the vacancy and who should fill it. “Unfortunately in these moments there is no opportunity to wait,” U.S. Congresswoman Karen Bass...