Luis Sanchez, a top aide to L.A. school board president, will run for open seat on panel

Luis Sanchez, a city commissioner and top aide to school board President Monica Garcia, announced plans Thursday to run for the Los Angeles Board of Education.

Sanchez, 35, is vying for the District 5 seat, hoping to succeed Yolie Flores, who previously announced she would not seek a second four-year term.

Flores’ replacement could well affect the path of future reforms in the Los Angeles Unified School District. She had emerged quickly as a prominent member of the board, pushing sometimes controversial policies, including an initiative to allow the takeover of some low-performing schools and all new schools by groups inside or outside the school system.

A win by Sanchez could consolidate the considerable influence of Garcia. Sanchez serves as her chief of staff and had managed her campaign to win a board seat. He also ran Flores’ campaign, but Flores and Garcia occasionally disagreed on board actions. Garcia’s closest political alliance has been with L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

On Thursday, Sanchez announced endorsements from Garcia, retired Rep. Esteban Torres and L.A. City Council member Jose Huizar, another Villaraigosa ally. The mayor has not yet made an endorsement but was the most crucial player in the last round of elections.

Sanchez, a recreation and parks commissioner, has a deep political base east of downtown, in part through the work of InnerCity Struggle, a local nonprofit he co-founded. It’s now led by his wife. Winning the backing of the influential teachers union could be difficult. United Teachers Los Angeles has frequently been at odds with Garcia and Flores. The powerful charter school constituency also could prove a factor in the race.

District 5 encompasses all or portions of Atwater, Silver Lake, Los Feliz, Highland Park, Mount Washington, El Sereno, City Terrace and unincorporated East Los Angeles as well as the cities of Bell, Cudahy, Huntington Park, Maywood, South Gate and Vernon.

Board elections will take place in March for four seats on the seven-person governing board. The incumbents in the other seats with March balloting are Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte, Tamar Galatzan and Richard Vladovic.

-- Howard Blume

Comments

[Care]

Another DFER political hack that cares more about a stepping stone than educating children - never been in a classroom. Conflict of interest with the non-profit? You betcha. Read up on DFER: http://dferwatch.wordpress.com/

[CaliHATER]

Is Luis Sanchez legal or illegal?

Because L A City, L A County, and The L A Times have chosen to promote sanctuary and welcome illegal aliens, I will continue to ask this question until you choose to follow the LAWS enacted by the Congress of the United States and signed into law by the President.

[Jaime Vega]

As someone who has personally worked with Luis Sanchez and have also been at the forefront of community organizing in the Eastside before starting my college career I would truly like to acknowledge the work, passion, and dedication that Luis has put forth and continues to put forth in the fight for a quality education for all. Luis will be essential in the transformation of public school reform in Los Angeles but most importantly District 5 where communities that have been off the radar and neglected over the past years. Si Se Puede Luis!

[daMaverick]

What's his position on teacher evaluations?

[kuruc]

another incompetent who'll be elected because her name is sanchez!

[John Vega]

they all suck...the board, the superintendent, Monica, Yolie. Tamar....we certainly don't need another villaraigosa buddy to come and muck things up any further. Villaraigosa and his merry band of miscreants need to get out of politics!!

[Dan B]

Maybe David Tokofsky could be encouraged to run again for his old District 5 seat so that we could have a truly independent voice on the Board of Education and someone who actually is an educator...and he speaks Spanish.

[Bear Facts]

Poor Luis, either he is a pawn in the Mayor's game or he is an active participant. Either way I feel sorry for him. He is crazy to believe that the voters in District 5 won't see who is paying for this campaign. I have such a distrust for anyone who runs a charter school and wants to work for public schools. He can't have it both ways. Either you believe in public schools or you don't. Charters are private schools on the tax payers dime.

[Lester G.]

OMG! This is a joke. Luis Sanchez is part of the political machine in the eastside that is lead by Monica "I scream a lot" Garcia and Jose "Huizy" Huizar. If my memory serves me well, I believe Luis Sanchez had placed him name to run in 2007 but of course the political machine intervened and decided to have Yolie Flores Aguilar run for the seat, and the compromise was that Luis Sanchez was appointed to the Recreation and Parks Commission. Very Very sad. I am going to campaign for his opponent. We cannot allow this eastside political machine control our schools system.

[jonathan]

Luis Sanchez is the reason me and my friends were able to graduate from Garfield High School he challenged me when the schools gave up. We worked together to get the first new high school in East LA built when the district was failing in finding a site. Esteban E. Torres opened this monday and Garfield went back to traditional schedule.

[ESChica]

No union endorsement? Sounds good so far. If he's pro-charter schools, and pro-reform, I'll vote for him.

[guanaca]

he is an arrogant, "i went to college" idiot who does not respect people who have worked hard to get things done. another antonio puppet just like monica and jose huizar. tons of money from unions and the pals from his bosses!

[I WANT MY PHI KAPPA PHI MONEY!! KATHY O'NEIL COFFEE! GO2HELL SUCKER! HOW MUCH MONEY/TIME4 THAT DEGREE! SUCKER!]

WE ALREADY KNOW JACKIE BROWN HUSBAND GRADUTED FROM CSULB AND DOESN’T HOLD A DOCTORATE DEGREE LIKE MY EX-BOYFRIENDS! HE DOESN’T HAVE THE MONEY LIKE MY EXBOYFRIENDS+CFO JOHN BARBIERI, etc.. MY BAD SISTER WHO NEVER VISITS,ZERO COLLEGE, NO BEST CONVERSATIONS IS WORST THE STRANGER ON THE PHONE MAKING FALSE REPORTS -BECAUSE OF HER JEALOUS DREAM OF ALWAYS WANTING TO BE A TEACHER, etc..HER POOR EXHUSBAND TIM WHO HASN’T TO BE BEATEN UP BY SUCH LOW CLASS IDOT! POLICE BETTER STOP STALKING MY FAMILY! MY STUDENTS EVEN KNOW THE ILLEGAL CHOKE HOLD GAVE ME HIVES FOR LIFE! KEEP SHOWING THE WORLD YOUR MEDICORE! WHEN “UNT” IS HOSTING THE BOSWELL HIGH SCHOOL COLLEGE DRIVE! ITS CALLED A DESPERATE CHEAP SHOT! I EVEN CAN SHOW A 4.0 GPA ON MY COLLEGE TRANSCRIPT 5 MAJOR UNIVERSITIES AROUND THE NATION! THANK GOD THERES PLANO,etc…ITS UNFORTUNATE I MOVED IN THIS PATHETIC SCHOOL DISTRICT! PATHETIC IS THE PROPER ADJECTIVE! APOLOGY LETTERS!CESAR WHEN YOUR MILITARY EXWIFE DOESNT CARE HOW SHE FEEDS HER CHILDREN -MILITARY STYLE EAT IT!NOT 5 FOOD GROUPS!SORRY, MILITARY CHILDREN DON’T HAVE ABILITY TO SUBMIT VA COMPENSATION CLAIMS BECAUSE OF BAD LEADERSHIP!CLUE IAN MILLER+SARAH OBANDO DONT KNOW HOW 2 DEVELOP PROPER BACK BONES: BOWL LEGGED-MALNUTRITION,BAD TEETH-MALNUTRITION,CHILD OBESITY -MALNUTRITION,BEDWETTING at 7yrs old! ITS ALSO CHILD ABUSE CESAR MARTINEZ WHEN YOUR MOTHER WATCHES HER GRANDCHILDREN THEY ARE 32lbs at 1yrs old-ONLY EATING 1 FOOD GROUP SODA,CANDY FOOD GROUPetc! SCHOOL IN KUWAIT IMPRESSED WITH MY DAUGHTERS ENGLISH READING,WRITING+SPEAKING ABILITIES-DINOSAUR WORDS,etc!ASK THEM! I WAS GOING 2 TEACH OVER THERE!SHE CHOOSES TO LEARN! LIKE CFO JOHN BARBIERI whoms ARM was hurt in COAST GUARD!NO JESUS!DON’T JOIN MILITARY! TRUMP BRILLANTLY POINTS OUT WHY!NO BED BUGS!GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN(CPS)CHICK!PROFESSIONALISM! CPS SORRY I MAKE SURE ALL THE BEDS IN MY HOME ARE BRAND NEW!YUCK!I CHECK 4 BUGS!RAISED ECOLAB, PRUDENTIAL,BRITISH SAS,IGH SCHOOLBOARD,and UNION ORGANZIER! HAPPY B-DAY 2 ME!CPS MAKE SURE U KNOW MY STUDENTS ARE ALSO WORLD ICE SKATING CHAMPIONS,etc! MY COUSIN SARAH JOHNSON IS OLYMPIC ATHLETE-PROPER CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT!GOOD LUCK!SHOW UP THAT MENTALLY WELL WITH 3.875GPA PSYCHOLOGY,EDUCATION DEGREE(S),EXPERIENCE:COMPTON CPS COMMUNITY TUPAC DEAD!GUATEMALA AMOEBAS!BOSNIA WAR DONT STEP ON LAND MINES!BEVERLY HILLS NO SPLIT ENDS!SNOT,SCRATCHES,etc…RUNNING DOWN THE KIDS FACE AT THE STORE,etc.PARENT DOESN’T KNOW HOW CHILD BROKE THEIR LEG!