SEIU Local 99 members have endorsed three candidates for the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Board of Education.
School board members make important decisions that directly impact our jobs and the quality of education in our schools. Among other things, they will vote on our upcoming labor union contract with the District. We need candidates like these who value the work of SEIU Local 99 members and who understand that it takes a whole team to make sure students learn in a clean, safe, healthy and supportive environment.
Meet the candidates:
Monica Garcia, District 2
Ms. Garcia first won our union’s endorsement in 2005 and retains it today. She has consistently shown how much she values the work and voice of classified employees. She made sure cafeteria workers had access to health care. When the Public School Choice resolution passed in 2009, she made sure that district schools converting to charter management retained our services. In 2011, she introduced (and the School Board passed) a resolution demanding that charter schools not interfere if their employees seek to form a union. And more recently, she fought off the attacks on the Breakfast in the Classroom program, which threatened to leave thousands of students in our communities without breakfast and would have meant 1,000 layoffs for Local 99 cafeteria workers.
Steve Zimmer, District 4
Mr. Zimmer first won our union’s endorsement in 2009 and retains it today. He led the way on a resolution to increase children’s participation in school meal programs. He also knows that students learn best when they have the support of a strong community. That’s why he established a student center to provide health care services for students and helped create a community agency that provides after school programs. Mr. Zimmer has fought to increase enrollment, reduce class sizes and stop layoffs of school support staff like us who make schools great. And he has continued to advocate for vulnerable students. He authored the school board resolution in support of the Dream Act, federal legislation that would provide a path to citizenship for undocumented students who do well in school and attend college.
Imelda Padilla, District 6
SEIU Local 99 members packed into our Valley satellite office on November 30, 2016, to meet and interview four candidates for Los Angeles School Board District 6, which covers the East San Fernando Valley. After reviewing the candidates’ statements and interviewing them, members gave our union’s official endorsement to Imelda Padilla, an LAUSD graduate, Valley native and longtime community advocate.
Imelda Padilla understands that, in order to succeed in school, students need support inside and outside the classroom. She values the contributions of SEIU Local 99 members to student learning. And she knows that when parents have good jobs, students have the stability at home that they need to stay focused on their education. Through her work with the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE), Imelda has worked to increase the minimum wage in Los Angeles and, with Pacoima Beautiful, she has worked on efforts to create safer communities. She also started an organization, Together We Do More, that helps students get on track for graduation, college and careers. Read more about Imelda here.
“We look forward to collaborating with Ms. Padilla on the goals we share: ensuring that schools are fully staffed so that students can learn in a healthy and safe environment, increasing after-school programs and access to summer school, ensuring that special needs children receive all they need to reach their full potential and expanding affordable health insurance to all District employees,” said SEIU Executive Director Max Arias.
Stay tuned for details in the coming weeks about our work to ensure these candidates get elected! We will talk to voters in the days leading up to the March 7th primary.
