Latinos make up almost 90 percent of enrollment in L.A. Unified’s Board District 5, which has some of the district’s neediest students and the state’s lowest-performing schools. But they most likely won’t be the ones electing their next representative to the school board. Next week’s special election for the vacant school board seat is expected to...

Parents whose children attend L.A. Unified schools in Board District 5, where voters will go to the polls next week to choose a new board member, hold widely varying views of their schools depending on the language they speak at home, according to a new survey. Nearly half of all Spanish-speaking respondents said their child’s...

*Updated Feb. 26 For public education firebrand Jackie Goldberg, next Tuesday’s special election to fill the vacant seat in L.A. Unified’s Board District 5 is a chance to block a pro-charter majority on the school board — and not just through 2020. Goldberg, who served on the school board from 1983 to 1991, told LA...

*Updated Feb. 19 Parents, students and community members were able to question the candidates running for L.A. Unified school board in District 5 at two separate forums last week, one led by parents and the second by students. High school students wanted their new representative to make sure they are better prepared for college, while...

*Updated Feb. 13 The 10 candidates in the race for L.A. Unified’s vacant school board seat are in full swing participating in community forums and other public events as the March 5 special election approaches. The new board member for Board District 5 will represent about 100,000 students in some very different communities: from the...

For California students, parents, teachers and education advocates, 2019 looks to be opening with a bang. In the first full week alone, a new governor will be inaugurated and teachers in the state’s largest school district are poised to strike — and Los Angeles could soon be followed by Oakland. Also, just months after the...

*Updated Aug. 23 Families whose children attend schools in LA Unified’s Board District 5, in southeast and northeast Los Angeles, will get to elect a new representative in a special election on March 5. That’s what the school board on Tuesday decided to do with the seat that has been vacant since Ref Rodríguez stepped...

Nearly 100,000 Los Angeles students are heading back to school without an elected representative because of the empty LA Unified school board seat in District 5. The District 5 seat — one of seven in the district, each with its own elected board member — was held by Ref Rodríguez, who pleaded guilty to money-laundering...