Dear friends and partners, 

We are officially halfway through this unprecedented semester in LA Unified, and our work continues to get our school communities through this pandemic and build a better future for the kids and families we serve. This week, the Board made significant progress in several of our efforts to meet that goal. 

In our latest Board meeting, I was proud to approve tens of millions of dollars in new funded projects and services to schools across the district. The most exciting of these in my Board district was the selection of Fairfax High for LA Unified’s next phase of major modernization projects, now that Venice High’s new campus is nearly complete and Taft is getting underway. Fairfax has been an important fixture of our District and the surrounding communities for almost 100 years, and I look forward to the opportunity to preserve the historic nature of the campus while creating an up-to-date learning environment for the current generation of students. 

The Board also announced new details in our ongoing Superintendent search. We have selected a recruitment team to help the Board find and select the best candidate. I will continue to advocate for an innovative leader who will make student-centered decisions to help our families and school communities emerge from this crisis better than the pre-pandemic status quo. 

As we approach the deadline for eligible employees to receive their COVID vaccinations, we will likely see some disruptions during the transition period at school sites—but we have been working with labor partners, school leaders, and District staff to minimize these disruptions for students as much as possible. Our goal is to keep kids safe, and in the classroom for in-person learning—and our health and safety protocols have helped make that possible. We will continue to follow the recommendations of medical and scientific communities and do our part to finally bring this pandemic to an end.

Onward,