George J. McKenna III | |
---|---|
Member of the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education for the 1st district | |
Assumed office August 28, 2014 | |
Preceded by | Marguerite LaMotte |
Vice President of the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education | |
In office July 1,2015 –July 6,2017 | |
President | Steve Zimmer |
Preceded by | Steve Zimmer |
Succeeded by | Nick Melvoin |
Personal details | |
Born | New Orleans,Louisiana | September 6,1940
Political party | Democratic |
Alma mater | Xavier University of Louisiana (Ed.D,BMath) Loyola Law School (M.A.) |
George J. McKenna III (born September 6,1940) is an American politician and former educator currently serving as a member of the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education for District 1,a position he has held since 2014. Prior to his board tenure,McKenna served as the principal of George Washington Preparatory High School. During his tenure,he led reforms to address issues related to gang violence in the school. His initiatives at the school were recounted in the 1986 biographical film The George McKenna Story where he was portrayed by Denzel Washington.
By 1988,he was appointed to the Inglewood Unified School District as the superintendent,where he was later ousted from the District due to him clashing with the board. He served in various capacities in different school districts including on the Compton Unified School District and the Pasadena Unified School District. In 2014,he won a special election to succeed Marguerite LaMotte on the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education after she died,serving until he announced his retirement in 2024.
George J. McKenna III was born on September 6,1940 in New Orleans,Louisiana. He pursued his undergraduate studies at Xavier University of Louisiana,earning a Bachelor of Mathematics degree at the age of 20. Later,he earned a Doctor of Education degree from the same university. He furthered his education by attending Loyola Law School,where he was awarded a teaching fellowship and earned a master's degree in mathematics. [1] [2]
In 1964,McKenna took a teaching position at David Starr Jordan High School in Watts,Los Angeles,with the Watts riots taking place a year after and inspiring him to have an interest in serving the school system. [3] In 1979,McKenna assumed the role of principal at Washington High School in Westmont,California,which faced challenges with low academic performance,frequent student absences,and gang violence. Throughout his tenure as principal,he successfully reformed the school to a point where nearly eighty percent of its graduates pursued higher education. [4] McKenna's time as school principal was praised and was given national acclaim,with his actions being depicted in the 1986 television film The George McKenna Story ,where he was portrayed by Denzel Washington. [5] [6] He participated in the movie's ending scene,where he narrates the changes to the school because of the efforts of the community. [7] The movie was praised for Washington's depiction of McKenna and for showcasing the reforms that were installed in the school. [8]
In 1988,McKenna was appointed as the superintendent of the Inglewood Unified School District,riding on the popularity of the film. [9] While superintendent,he clashed with the board on various issues. [10] By September 1993,the Inglewood Unified School District Board announced that they would not renew his contract. [11] [12] Some of the members of the Board of Education called his actions arrogant,blaming him for deficits that the districts was facing at the time,and he lost a no-confidence vote. [1] In 1994,the Compton Unified School District hired McKenna as deputy superintendent,an office he would hold until 2001. [13] [14] In June 2000,he was appointed as Superintendent of the 1st Subdistrict for the Los Angeles Unified School District created by Superintendent Ramón C. Cortines. [15] [1] From 2001 until 2008,he was an assistant Superintendent for the Pasadena Unified School District. [16]
On December 5,2013,longtime Los Angeles Unified School District board member Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte died,with supporters rallying around McKenna to be appointed to her seat. [17] [18] The board decided to call for a special election to fill her seat,with her successor having to run again for the regular 2014 election. [19] In the primary election,McKenna and education policy advisor Alex Johnson emerged as the top two candidates,advancing to the runoff. [20] [21] McKenna won against Johnson in the subsequent runoff election with low turnout. [22] [23] [24] He was sworn into office by Jesse Jackson and won re-election unopposed that next year. [25] [26] [27] His inauguration was attended by U.S. Representative Maxine Waters and civil rights activist Danny Bakewell. [28]
In November 2014,McKenna and board members Bennett Kayser and Steve Zimmer proposed a resolution to require ethnic studies courses in its high schools,which was approved by the Board. [29] On July 1,2015,McKenna was named as the Vice President of the Board of Education by newly-elected President Steve Zimmer. [30] He was replaced by Nick Melvoin after Melvoin's election to the board on July 6,2017,as he defeated President Zimmer in the 2017 election. In September 2019,McKenna helped to launch the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority pass program for K-12 students in the LAUSD. [31] He was re-elected to the Board in that next year,running unopposed again. [32] In February 2024,McKenna announced his decision not to pursue re-election for the upcoming 2024 election. [33] He endorsed senior aide Sherlett Hendy Newbill to take over for his seat in the 2024 election. [34]
McKenna lives in the Crenshaw district of Los Angeles. [1] In 1989,McKenna received the Congressional Black Caucus’Chairman’s Award and was later inducted into the National Alliance of Black School Educators’Hall of Fame in 1997. [35] He was honored by Loyola Law School with a Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. Public Service Award in March 2017. [36]
Year | Office | Party | Primary | General | Result | Swing | Ref. | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | % | P. | Total | % | P. | ||||||||
2014 | LAUSD Board of Education (1st) | Nonpartisan | 19,803 | 44.56% | 1st | 17,025 | 52.81% | 1st | Won | N/A | [23] | ||
2015 | Nonpartisan | 28,456 | 100.00% | 1st | Runoff cancelled | Won | N/A | [27] | |||||
2020 | Nonpartisan | 107,280 | 100.00% | 1st | Runoff cancelled | Won | N/A | [32] [37] |
Jacqueline Barbara Goldberg is an American politician, activist and former educator currently serving as a member of the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education for District 5, a position she has held since 2019. Previously serving as a board member from 1983 until 1991, Goldberg has also served as a member of the Los Angeles City Council and the California State Assembly.
Rafe Esquith is an American teacher who taught at Hobart Boulevard Elementary School, in Los Angeles, California, from 1984 until his resignation in 2015 as a settlement with the LAUSD. Many of his students, who were all from a community of poor and immigrant families, started class very early, left late, and typically achieved high scores in standardized tests. Esquith has authored books about teaching and his annual class Shakespeare productions were featured in the 2005 documentary The Hobart Shakespeareans.
George Washington Preparatory High School is a public four-year high school of Los Angeles Unified School District in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is located in the Westmont census-designated place and has a Los Angeles postal address.
David L. Brewer is a retired vice admiral of the United States Navy and former superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District. The 35-year veteran of the Navy was the captain of USS Mount Whitney from April 3, 1991 – December 5, 1992, commanded Military Sealift Command from August 2001 until his retirement in March 2006, and served as Vice Chief of Naval Education and Training from 1999 to 2001. As Vice Chief of Naval Education and Training, he is known for helping to develop the Navy College Program and negotiating contracts with 11 colleges, universities and community colleges to provide bachelor and associate degree programs to more than 300,000 sailors. As Commander of Military Sealift Command, he is known for overseeing the massive Military Sealift Command (MSC) partnership with the private sector shipping contractors operation in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom which involved moving over 20,000,000 square feet (1,900,000 m2) of equipment to the Persian Gulf in less than four months. He is also known for leading the Military Sealift Command's disaster relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina.
Centinela Valley Union High School District, (CVUHSD) is a public union high school district located in southern California that serves about 6,800 students in grades 9–12 from all of Lawndale and Lennox, most of Hawthorne and Alondra Park, and a small portion of Inglewood. The district's three associated elementary feeder school districts are Hawthorne School District, Lawndale Elementary School District, and Lennox School District. Previously Wiseburn Unified School District, now a unified district, fed into CVUSD. The Centinela Valley district also offers adult education classes.
Ramón Curtis Cortines is an American educator who has served as the chancellor of the New York City Department of Education, and the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District in Los Angeles, California. Cortines returned as Los Angeles superintendent in October 2014, and his contract was extended in June 2015 for another year, through June 2016.
Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is a public school district in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is the largest public school system in California in terms of number of students and the 2nd largest public school district in the United States, with only the New York City Department of Education having a larger student population. During the 2022–2023 school year, LAUSD served 565,479 students, including 11,795 early childhood education students and 27,740 adult students. During the same school year, it had 24,769 teachers and 49,231 other employees. It is the second largest employer in Los Angeles County after the county government. The school district's budget for the 2021–2022 school year was $10.7 billion, increasing to $12.6 billion for the 2022–2023 school year.
The Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools, called the RFK Community Schools, is a complex of public schools in Los Angeles, California. This was formerly the site of the Ambassador Hotel, the site of the June 1968 assassination of presidential candidate United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy.
James D. Sohn formerly served as the Chief of Facilities of the Los Angeles Unified School District Facilities Division (LAUSD), having been appointed by the Superintendent Ramon C. Cortines. LAUSD is the 2nd largest school district in the United States. The Facilities Services Division oversees all maintenance and operations, including the construction and modernization program. The bond program is the largest school construction program in the United States, with more than five voter approved bond measures totaling $20.6 billion coupled with billions in matching funds from the State of California.
Judy Burton was an important figure within the educational community within Los Angeles. After graduating college at the University of California, Los Angeles, Burton entered the education sector as a teacher at Hyde Park Elementary School. Burton then went on to lead LEARN as the new assistant superintendent of the program. In addition to her participation in LAUSD as a teacher and as an administrator, Burton helped develop one of the largest networks of charter schools in the Southern California Region, The Alliance College-Ready Public Schools, as its CEO.
Michelle King was an American educator. She was the first black woman to serve as superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the second-largest school district in the United States. She was appointed in January 2016 by the Los Angeles Board of Education.
The 2020 Los Angeles elections were held on March 3, 2020. Voters elected candidates in a nonpartisan primary, with runoff elections scheduled for November 3, 2020. Seven of the fifteen seats in the City Council were up for election.
The Superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District is the chief administrative officer of the District selected by the District's Board of Education. Portuguese-American educator and former superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Alberto M. Carvalho, has been serving as the District's superintendent since February 14, 2022.
John Edward Deasy is an American businessman who served as a superintendent for multiple school districts from 1996 until 2020. He first served as superintendent for Coventry Public Schools, the Santa Monica–Malibu Unified School District, and Prince George's County Public Schools. Deasy became the Superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District on April 15, 2011, succeeding Ramon Cortines. He served until his resignation on October 15, 2014, at which point Cortines was appointed as his successor. He later served as the superintendent of Stockton Unified School District from 2018 until 2020.
Nicholas James Melvoin is an American attorney, former teacher, and adjunct professor serving as member of the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education for District 4 since May 16, 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Melvoin is the second youngest member of the board after Kelly Gonez.
Refugio Rodriguez is adjunct professor and a former member of the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education representing District 5 and former president of the board. He resigned from both positions on July 23, 2018, after an accounting scandal.
Kelly Fitzpatrick-Gonez is a former science teacher and current member and former president of the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education. She was elected as a board member in 2017 and as president in 2020. Prior to her election, she had previously served as an education policy advisor for the Obama administration.
The 2024 Los Angeles elections was held on March 5, 2024. Voters will elect candidates in a nonpartisan primary, with runoff elections scheduled for November 5. Seven of the fifteen seats in the City Council will be up for election.
Imelda G. Padilla is an American politician who is currently a member of the Los Angeles City Council representing the 6th district since 2023. She had previously ran for the Los Angeles Unified School District's Board of Education for the 6th district, losing to Kelly Gonez in the runoff election.
Ed was a chatbot co-developed by the Los Angeles Unified School District and AllHere Education. Described as a learning acceleration platform, it was the first personal assistant for students in the United States. Part of the district's Individual Acceleration Plan, it was able to interact with students both verbally and visually, offering support in 100 languages. The chatbot was launched on March 20, 2024, as part of the district's plan for academic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and to improve overall academic performance. Utilizing artificial intelligence, Ed organizes data and reports on grades, test scores, and attendance, creating individualized plans for each student. After the company behind it, AllHere, collapsed, the district shuttered operations of the chatbot on June 14, 2024.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)