Since Alex Caputo-Pearl was declared the winner as president and two other races were clarified though the second round of voting last week, the union’s election committee is now in the midst of hearing 15 challenges from competition for 22 positions.

Hearings were held last Tuesday and Thursday with more scheduled for today.

“A majority of them” involve challenges to winning Union Power candidates — nearly all the winners — over the possibility they used unpaid leave to campaign, said a person familiar with the cases who asked not to be identified. The other challenges, the person said, fall into the category of, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Caputo-Pearl was not challenged, but the winners for four vice president positions, secretary and treasurer were.

The challenge process allows any losing candidate to present evidence of irregularity, after which the 13-member committee decides to accept or reject the challenge. The loser of the decision has the right to post $1,000 to appeal to an independent arbitrator, initiating a process could could stretch on for several months.

The person with knowledge of the process said that to prevail, any challenger has to demonstrate that the alleged violation is valid and would change the outcome of the voting.

It’s not always so simple as it sounds. The person described a challenge from several years ago when a losing candidate charged that the winner had used a school site copying machine to make campaign fliers.

“That’s not against UTLA rules but it goes against district and state rules,” the person said before describing other  cases — a candidate accused of using the school site telephone to make campaign calls, a candidate accused of using the LA Unified email address to send out literature, a candidate calling in sick to campaign.

“How do we prove or disprove any of that?” the person said. “We’re not the NSA, tapping everybody’s phone.”

The election committee’s rulings are expected to be completed this week. Any race in which no appeal is filed with be declared official.

Superintendent John Deasy

LA Unified Superintendent John Deasy said a principal who gave Alex Caputo-Pearl permission to take unpaid time off to campaign for president of the teachers union, UTLA, has been disciplined.

The action came in response to accusations that the leave, a violation of district’s contract with UTLA, provided Caputo-Pearl an unfair advantage over other candidates by allowing him to campaign during school hours.

Caputo-Pearl is one of nine men challenging Warren Fletcher, who is seeking a second three-year term.

“First neither I nor any administrator at Beaudry approved any leave for Mr. Caputo-Pearl or any other UTLA candidate. I believe his principal may have done such,” Deasy said in an email. “A letter was sent to Mr. Fletcher notifying him of the situation. And the principal has been disciplined. The letter further clarified that our interpretation (long standing) of the contract was that such a practice is prohibited.”

While Caputo-Pearl defended his campaigning, pointing to Fletcher’s ability to do the same as the incumbent, the district finally ordered him to stop.

Yet as tomorrow’s deadline approaches for UTLA members to mail in their ballots for elective positions this year, accusations of cheating persist.

Several of the candidates for president have suggested that Deasy granted Caputo-Pearl permission as a way to influence the election — never mind that Caputo-Pearl has been as critical as any candidate of Deasy and his policies.

No candidate has focused more attention on the issue than David Garcia, whose campaign is aimed at rooting out “corruption” by ousting Fletcher and all who serve with him.

Garcia has been particularly suspicious of an October dinner Deasy had with six union area chairs who are also Union Power members, suggesting that conversations that night led a wink from the district, that Union Power members would be allowed to campaign during school hours. With permission or not, some did while other candidates who sought time off to campaign were denied.

Fletcher has filed an unfair practice complaint against the district with the state Public Employment Relations Board, charging that the district bypassed official union representatives by engaging in discussions with other union members.

Garcia, in a March 9 email to the UTLA election committee and 60 other recipients, including the New Yorker, Mother Jones, the Washington Post and People magazine, wrote in the subject line: “RAMPANT CHEATING IN L.A. TEACHER’S UNION, CITY WIDE ELECTIONS”

Here’s what he said, in part:

“The union power slate has been visiting campuses since September of last year, ok? These same individuals had a dinner ‘meeting’ with the Superintendent, although what they talked about, no one knows for certain…. While its (sic) purely speculation on my part, its (sic) possible that the Superintendent met with these people to voice his dissatisfaction in Warren Fletcher ——and to encourage these people to run for office…still with me?

“Union Power has several candidates who are chapter chairs and who are also running for UTLA leadership positions…These same people, who are running for Union Power positions AND in positions of authority within the union were also the same individuals who allowed Alex Pearl to ‘visit’ their school sites, ok?”

In his email, Deasy wrote: “Wow. Not even sure how one constructs such a narrative.”

Deasy went on to write that the dinner included “several area chairs” but not Caputo-Pearl. He said the issue of campaigning “never came up,” and the conversation “dealt with local issues like parent trigger and some very specific valley school climate issues.”

He did not name the principal who was disciplined.

In a March 6 email, to the UTLA election committee and its members, Garcia repeated his accusation of the district “ ‘unfairly influencing a UTLA election’ by allowing certain candidates to miss work and prohibiting others from doing the same.”

He further suggests in the same email that the district gave the Union Power members an unfair advantage by paying the substitutes who took over for them while they were campaigning.

The district did not respond to questions about another of Garcia’s suspicions, that if substitutes were called in while candidates were out campaigning, the district was making a “campaign contribution” to Union Power by paying for the substitutes.

As eager as he has been raising the issues at candidate forums and in emails, Garcia did not respond to a series of questions from LA School Report, seeking elaboration on his accusations.

Previous Posts: LA Unified teachers union race gets national attention; Misunderstood election rules cause friction among UTLA candidates; At a UTLA candidate forum, issues break out within the mudslinging.

The union has shown signs of deep fracture lately, and with just 20 percent of the union’s 35,000 members expected to vote, the winner’s message will have to capture the votes of just a couple thousand teachers, in a long and drawn out process that begins on Feb. 25, and might not end until spring.

At the same time, with the union facing declining enrollment and revenue, the race is set to highlight a debate raging about its role, goals and tactics: should it stick to bread and butter issues of pay and contracts, or expand its mission to tackle race and equity? How confrontational should it be?

At this early juncture, 10 candidates, all of them men, are vying for attention in the first round of balloting (see ballot order here). Here’s a snapshot look at them:

Warren Fletcher

As current president of UTLA, Fletcher has both the advantages and disadvantages of the incumbency. He’s become the target of left-leaning activists who see him as too moderate and unwilling use tactics like strikes and protests.

But at the first presidential candidate forum, Fletcher defended his leadership, saying that members are better off today than they were when he took office. As achievements, he pointed to furlough days being eliminated, the district’s putting a stop to annual RIF cycles, and that both Adult and Early Education were saved from complete elimination. He also pointed to the cap placed on the Public School Choice program (which allowed failing schools to be reconstituted as charters), and how he campaigned on behalf of two school board members – Steve Zimmer and Monica Ratliff – against reform backed candidates. He’s advocated for a pay hike and pressed the district to rehire teachers.

In 2011, Fletcher defeated seven other candidates and prevailed in a runoff, succeeding A.J. Duffy. Previously he has served on UTLA’s Board of Directors and in the House of Representatives. He started with LAUSD in 1978 as a teachers’ assistant and became a classroom teacher in 1983.

Alex Caputo-Pearl
Well positioned as a formidable Fletcher opponent, Alex Caputo-Pearl is running at the top of a slate called “Union Power” – that includes seven colleagues running for other down-ballot positions.

Caputo-Pearl represents a faction within UTLA that is clamoring to push the union to the left. The platform includes social equity issues, creating a “credible threat of a strike”; a pushback on Breakfast in the Classroom; and a double digit salary increase. Caputo-Pearl told LA School Report last year that current leadership is “overwhelmingly defensive and reactive … taking things issue by issue,” and that’s not “going to help build quality schools.”

To strengthen UTLA’s leverage, Caputo-Pearl says he will develop a coalition branch and a communications department and will cultivate a team of researchers and experts “to frame the debate” on big issues like the Common Core.

Caputo-Pearl is currently a member of the UTLA Board of Directors and a teacher at Frida Kahlo High School. He spent more than half of his 22 years of teaching at Crenshaw High School, where he started the Coalition for Educational Justice. As a vocal opponent of reconstituting Crenshaw after it was found to be failing by the district, he was not rehired by the new administration. Website: unionpower2014.org

Gregg Solkovits
Now in his second term as UTLA Secondary Vice-President, Solkovits is well known figure within the union – his mother served as UTLA president starting in 1979, and he has held numerous leadership roles within UTLA.

Solkovits is seen as a moderate, and talks about trying to find new voices and ideas from union membership. “There are a lot of younger teachers, people with divergent points of view,” he tells LA School Report. “We need to listen to them.” On his website he says he will “appoint a diverse body of activists to propose changes to position UTLA for the fights of the future.”

At the first candidate forum, Solkovits argued it’s time to update UTLA’s governing structures and constitution. “The constitution was written in 1969 . . . and it sets up a system where there are a lot of chiefs without much input from average members.”
“I would get rid of it, rewrite it, and make it easier to pass motions.”
The position Solkovits is vacating to run for president will be the only open seat. Solkovits has been an LA Unified high school teacher for 28 years.
Website: gsolkforutlapresident.com

Bill Gaffney
A dark horse in the race, Gaffney is a moderate who talks about needing to create a productive relationship with the LA Unified district. He became involved with UTLA in 2007 after the district-wide payroll system changeover, which left thousands of teachers without a pay-check.
“I had not been paid in three months and saw little being done on our behalf,” he says on his web site. “The lack of action and compassion I experienced encouraged me to run for Chapter Chair, a seat I ended up winning.” His plan as president includes a salary raise and a stipend for ongoing professional development. Gaffney may get some help from teachers who don’t usually get involved with ideology of the left. He was recently featured on the website of The Teacher Action Network, led by GreenDot founder, Steve Barr. Gaffney is a science teacher and basketball coach at Fulton College Prep in Van Nuys. He’s been a teacher for 28 years. Website: www.billforutlapres.com

David Garcia
With a battle cry of “Don’t let the rats steal your money,” Garcia doesn’t sugar coat his message. As a a former Navy corpsman and Gulf War veteran he calls the leadership of UTLA “incompetent” and “pseudo-leaders.”

Laid off in 2010 because of budget cuts, Garcia is now a substitute teacher who is a frequent speaker at LAUSD school board meetings.  His flier, “Revolution Solution,” promotes lowering union dues (with the promise to return dues if UTLA fails to represent them), teacher self-evaluation, and making all officer and board meetings open to the public. Garcia is against UTLA’s push for a 17.6 percent salary increase. “Regular people are losing money,” he said at the presidential candidate forum in January, “and a raise would alienate us from them.” Instead, he says the union, especially teachers, “need to build up a positive image within the community.”

As a parent of four children in the school district, Garcia says he favors randomly searching students for weapons and contraband. He ran for UTLA president in 2011 and received just 1.5 percent of the vote, but this year he could benefit from having drawn the top position on the ballot.

Saul Lankster
Once a charter school teacher and supervisor, Lankster now calls for a moratorium on the expansion of charter schools within LA Unified. He says of charters, “I know of the manipulation of test scores, the rip off of public funds provided for children, the exploitation of teachers who oftentimes cannot defend their labor or professional rights in many charter schools.”

Listed on the ballot as “Saul ‘the fighter’ Lankster,” he says he will negotiate a teacher pay raise in his first 18 months in office and put an end to policies that he says target well-paid teachers and land them in “teacher jail.” Now a teacher at Huntington Park High School, Lankster grew up in Alabama and, according to his website, was involved in the Civil Rights Movement and went to jail with Dr. Martin Luther King.
Website: saullankster.com/home.html

Kevin Mottus
A candidate who is focused primarily on health issues, Mottus, is a familiar face at school board meetings where he has frequently spoken out to warn of adverse health effects of wireless digital devices. Last year he presented a motion before the UTLA house of representatives to adopt a policy that would require employees be informed when there are changes in their exposure to environmental hazards including electromagnetic radiation. The motion was adopted. His platform includes a plan to restore PPO medical coverage for members and include disability insurance in union dues.

Mottus is a registered coach for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and helps children and adults with learning disabilities and dyslexia. He works as a psychiatric social worker at the School Mental Health Department at LAUSD, focusing on students with behavioral problems.

Marcos Ortega II
A teacher who has been sitting in “teacher jail” since October for allegedly assaulting a student, Ortega has no other issue he cares more about.

Ortega wants to reform the investigation process for accused teachers. “Teachers are powerless,” he told LA School Report. “A student can accuse you and boom, you’re pulled out of a classroom and thrown in teacher jail for who knows how long,” he said. Ortega also says the current UTLA leadership has eroded the public’s perception of teachers. “The public isn’t with us anymore and I blame our representation,” he said. Finally, he’d like to change the UTLA’s identifying color from red to “anything else.”

Innocent O. Osunwa 
A labor lawyer and English teacher at Stevenson Middle School, Osunwa is one of two candidates who did not participate in the first candidate forum. He is also a relative newcomer to the field, declaring his candidacy during the do-over filing period, which was opened by UTLA to allow potential candidates to pay their back dues to run.

Osunwa has had some previous political experience although his last run for office was probably less successful than he intended. As a write-in candidate for the 32nd Congressional District in California, he lost to Democrat Hilda Solis, 130,042 to 8.

“There was a mistake,” he told LA School Report. “I am a Republican. They listed me as an independent.”

One of his major campaign issues, he said, is the union’s labor contract with LA Unified. “It has too many loopholes in the way it is worded,” he said. “It has teacher protections, but on the other hand, teacher protections are taken away.” Also, he said, the system of teacher evaluation is “too subjective.”

Leonard Segal
A substitute teacher since 1995, Segal is one of two candidates who did not participate in the first candidate forum. He is the North Calling Area Chapter Chair on the Substitute Teachers Committee and was the NEA Substitute Teacher Caucus Chair from 2003 to 2011.

This is Segal’s second bid for the presidency. He ran in 2011 receiving just over 3 percent of the vote in a field of eight. If that race is any indication, Segal might have entered the race in order to throw his support behind the candidacy of current president Warren Fletcher.  When he ran In 2011, Segal used the advertising space allotted to him in the election edition of the United Teacher to promote his competitor, or perhaps ally, Warren Fletcher.

Eight of the 10 candidates faced off in a debate that resulted in at least one consensus: the current state of the union is fractured and plagued with in-fighting. Though fewer than 40 people attended, those in the audience were treated to lengthy discussions of UTLA governing principles and school board negotiating tactics. Candidates also criticized LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy, with one calling him a “corporatee” and accusing his push to rid the district of ineffective teachers as causing irreparable damage to the profession.

Both forums are scheduled to take place from 6-8 PM.

Previous Posts: Union candidates gang up on Fletcher and, of course, Deasy; Candidates seeking Warren Fletcher’s job at UTLA vie for attention; 

While it seems like common sense — if you want to run for a union office, make sure your dues are up-to-date — some candidates might not have gotten the message.

The teachers union’s board of directors discovered in December that a number of candidates — union officials wouldn’t say who or how many — had fallen behind on their dues and were not in good standing.

To remedy the problem, the board voted to set aside the initial nomination process and to start it anew. Candidates were given until Jan. 3 to catch up on outstanding membership dues, and the deadline for nomination submissions was extended to Jan. 17.

It’s unclear what, if any, impact this will have on the election campaign for UTLA president. At last count there were eight challengers to the incumbent, Warren Fletcher, and dozens of people are running for other positions.

Elections for president and all other offices, including the UTLA Board of Directors, will be conducted in March. All candidates run as individuals, and any who surpasses 50 percent of the vote is the winner. Short of that, the top two finishers contend in a runoff.

Previous Posts: Fletcher is facing 8 in reelection bid for LA teacher union presidency; Teachers Union Presidents says a Strike could help win pay raises.

Caputo-Pearl, left, phone-banking for Steve Zimmer in March

The first step of running for office is raising money, and the UTLA Presidential election is no exception. In an email to would-be supporters this week, candidate Alex Caputo-Pearl set a fundraising goal of $100,000 by the end of the year for his slate of seven candidates, dubbed “Union Power.”

“The Union Power slate has the kind of broad-based support that gives us a real opportunity to win this election,” he said in the email. “It is, however, going to take major funding to do it.”

The email was sharply critical of the current wave of “school reform” thinking, or what Caputo-Pearl calls the “run schools like businesses” approach, “with test scores being viewed as the bottom line.” The email makes no mention of his chief rival and incumbent, Warren Fletcher, viewed by many as the slight favorite to be re-elected for a second three-year term.

Outsider candidate David Garcia said in a recent interview that he will not raise or spend any money. He contends that spending $100,000 has become typical in recent UTLA elections, and that, “for last five cycles, the slate that has spent the most amount of money has won.”

Anyone can contribute to a candidate for UTLA office, although only UTLA members vote. The elections are set to take place in February.

Previous posts: Another Candidate Emerges to Challenge for UTLA Presidency; UTLA Factions Lining Up to Oust Fletcher as President; ‘Political Season’ Starting with UTLA Leadership Conference; Union President Likely Faces 2014 Challengers; Union President Volunteers for Pay Cut