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Bond Oversight Committee, Independent oversight, LAUSD Board Of Education, Stuart Magruder, Tamar Galatzan, tax watchdog committee
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As an LAUSD parent of just four-years’ standing, there is a vast, murky gulf of incomprehension regarding this school system, yawning not only to the fore, but way, way into the dim, if recent, past of my own pre-LAUSD-involvement.
When Los Angeles voters passed Proposition BB in 1997, I was just giving birth to my eldest, now readying to apply for college. I do not recall the furor of distrust codified in internet archives that recount how the voters resolved a conflict regarding desperately needed public monies for school maintenance and construction, amid a climate where fraud and abuse of public monies became recently evident. This tension was resolved and the bond proposition passed when – and only after – LAUSD pledged to convene an oversight committee tasked with reviewing and auditing disbursement of public monies. This committee was established by LAUSD, but was not to be controlled by it.
It is hardly amusing, therefore, to witness a board member seated long after that hard-fought, painful compromise, level complaints against a Bond Oversight Committee (BOC) member that even if true, are largely irrelevant to her purview in approving the board’s membership.
Boardmember Galatzan’s unsubstantiated diatribe is an attack on the structure of tax payers’ faith in the system. We voted in that money because we safeguarded it to a volunteer committee of watchful citizens whom we trust, to scrutinize the utilizing of public monies by an institution that has lost our trust.
This Tuesday, 6/17/14 at 2pm the Board of Education is set once again to reappoint the American Institute of Architect’s appointee to the committee, Stuart Magruder. There can be no greater expression of democratic support than turning out for a volunteer citizen who in return for speaking truth to power is centered in the crosshairs of defamation.
Please consider physically showing up Tuesday at 333 South Beaudry. To be admitted to the board room to witness tomorrow’s high jinks, it might be necessary to arrive early. And if such fortitude is not possible, please consider signing the petition in support of him here:
https://www.credomobilize.com/petitions/reappoint-lausd-bond-oversight-committee-citizen-member-stewart-magruder-as-a-watchdog.
One boardmember’s confusion about her assignment to establish independent oversight of our tax dollars, must not interfere with the public’s trust in public institutions!
7 Comments
redqueeninla said:
June 17, 2014 at 3:35 pm
The LAUSD Board of Ed just voted to recognize the AIA’s re-nomination of Magruder to the Bond Oversight Committee.
WELL DONE all you interested stakeholders!!!
Stuart Goldurs said:
June 17, 2014 at 5:59 am
LAUSD: The district of no consequences http://www.examiner.com/article/lausd-the-district-of-no-consequences?cid=db_articles
Ellen Lubic said:
June 16, 2014 at 12:53 pm
Thanks Queenie for reminding your reading public about this ridiculous situation whereby the BoE votes down the brave voice of the people, Stuart Magruder, as to the fiasco and flagrant spending of Deasy for the golden iPads. And thank Magruder for holding fast to your priniciples and seeking to protect the public by asking the imperative operant questions.
I intend to come to the Board meeting tomorrow and support you.
redqueeninla said:
June 16, 2014 at 12:05 pm
Thank you! “remotely compelling” is the understatement of the year. I have attended or watched nearly every BOC meeting I could find record of. And “just for the record”… — I have absolutely no idea whatsoever could possibly have inspired the assertions made, and no evidence or justification was submitted to back them up either. What defines libel?
smf said:
June 16, 2014 at 12:47 pm
Q: What defines libel?
A: Not what Tamar Galatzan has said.
The Teachable Moment: School Board Members and other elected officials – and appointed ones for that matter (he said because he is one) enjoy parliamentary privilege – which protects us from charges of slander (a spoken defamatory remark that has the tendency to injure another’s reputation or character) and libel (a written defamatory remark, etc.) when delivered in performance of our official duties. No matter what Ms. Galatzan says from the dais of the boardroom it would be nearly impossible to hold her accountable in a court of law.
If a hypothetical Bond Oversight Committee member were to post a blog post declaring Ms. Galatzan to be an ignorant slut he might be subject to charges of libel; if he were to say such a thing while on the horseshoe at Beaudry during a committee meeting he would be protected by parliamentary privilege.
Ellen Lubic said:
June 16, 2014 at 1:00 pm
Actually, if the hypothetical writer were to say Galatzan is ignorant, not use the word ‘slut’…it would be hard for her to press a case for slander and libel. Even calling her a slut might not be actionable since this falls under the landmark SCOTUS case, NY Times vs. Sullivan. The ruling held that a public figure essentially puts him/her self out for public scrutiny so that he/she is not held to the same standard as a private individual.
This just skims the ruling but it is worth reading about it online. It is a case taught to all law students re what constitutes slander and libel.
Emily Magruder said:
June 16, 2014 at 11:58 am
Excellent framing of the issue, RedQueen.
Just for the record, I want to make clear that Tamar Galatzan’s assertions about the BOC’s record in general and Stuart Magruder’s in particular are not true.
To quote Steve Lopez’s fine article in yesterday’s LA Times: “I didn’t find any of her justifications [for blocking Magruder’s reappointment] remotely compelling.”