EDITORIAL COME ON MARLENE CANTER CAVES IN TO THE LAUSD MACHINE.WE had - and have - high hopes for Marlene Canter canter a gallop at an easy pace. The rhythm is three-time, first one hind, then the opposite hind with the diagonal fore, then the opposite fore, the leading limb. collected canter . A tough-talking reformer with no ties to the union or the bureaucracy, she was supposed to help clean up the Los Angeles Unified School District The Los Angeles Unified School District (the "LAUSD") is the largest (in terms of number of students) public school system in California and the second-largest in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population. . But three months into her tenure as a school board member, Canter hasn't been the LAUSD's white knight White Knight falls off his horse every time it stops. [Br. Lit.: Lewis Carroll Through the Looking-Glass] See : Awkwardness White Knight invents clever objects that never work. [Br. Lit. but, it would seem, its invisible woman. Worse yet, she cast one of the four crucial votes this week for a proposal to buy a dump of an old building for the LAUSD's new headquarters. The plan will create $184.2 million worth of debt, which the district will have to pay off with money intended for educating children. Canter seems unconcerned about sagging floors, questions about the building's structural soundness, its needing $59 million in renovations on top of its nearly $75 million price tag, or the conflict-onterest issues surrounding the purchase. She says she trusted the judgment of the LAUSD's bureaucrats - always a mistake - who said the building was up to snuff not likely to be imposed upon; knowing; acute. - Shak. See under Snuff. See also: Snuff Up . She didn't need to give in so easily. She could have voted no, like David Tokofsky, or abstained until better information was available - that's what Julie Korenstein and Jose Huizar did. Joining the other three would have delayed the matter until questions are answered. But instead she apparently took her marching orders from Superintendent Roy Romer Roy R. Romer (born October 31, 1928 in Garden City, Kansas, United States) was the 39th governor of Colorado and served as the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District from 2001 to 2006. who, with help from his pals with an interest in the deal, railroaded this one through the board. It's time It's Time was a successful political campaign run by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) under Gough Whitlam at the 1972 election in Australia. Campaigning on the perceived need for change after 23 years of conservative (Liberal Party of Australia) government, Labor put forward a for Canter to show she's the experienced educator she claimed to be. Being Romer's patsy is not the way to do that. The crusader who ran because kids must come first needs to stand up and start giving voters what they voted for. Where are you Marlene? |
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