Voters in Los Angeles Unified District 1, which includes much of South L.A., Mid-City and Koreatown, need an experienced and responsive person to fill the open seat of retiring school board member George J. McKenna III.
The best choice is Sherlett Hendy Newbill, who spent decades at Susan Miller Dorsey High School in Baldwin Hills as a basketball coach, teacher and dean of students, among other jobs, before McKenna hired her last year as his education policy advisor.
She offers a pragmatic, independent-minded approach to solving complex problems and will use her experience on campus, and as a parent of two boys in District 1 schools, to make decisions that put the needs of students first, even if it means standing up to teacher and staff unions and other powerful interests. That is needed on a board that in recent years has given Supt. Alberto Carvalho more room to carry out new policies, but has too often failed to ask tough questions. There should have been more scrutiny of the last-minute push to put a $9-billion school construction bond on the November ballot and into whether the district was violating Proposition 28, the voter-approved law requiring increased school arts funding.
Newbill wants to hold Carvalho accountable on major decisions, such as replacing the successful Primary Promise program that helps elementary school students struggling with reading and math before giving it time to succeed. She would continue McKenna’s work championing the district’s Black Student Achievement Plan to fight educational inequities. Ongoing support will be critical in District 1, which has LAUSD’s largest concentration of Black students.
Newbill has criticized the school board’s 2021 decision to remove school police from campuses without a clear plan to keep students safe, and wants each campus to decide for itself. It is a position that’s at odds with United Teacher Los Angeles, and she thinks it cost her the union’s influential endorsement in the race. She also wants to expand the services schools offer the community, including more quality after-school programs, health and mental health services.
Newbill may have similar views as McKenna, but she doesn’t agree with him on everything. While McKenna voted no on the school board’s plan to ban cellphones on campus, Newbilll supports the policy after seeing how the overuse of phones contributes to bullying, fighting and distraction in class and mental health problems among students.
Once viewed as a long shot who was out-fundraised by other big-money-backed candidates, Newbill placed first in the primary and is now considered the front runner in the general election. The other candidate in the race is Kahllid A. Al-Alim, a community activist who came under fire earlier this year for liking or reposting social media content that was antisemitic, pro-gun or pornographic. He was previously backed by UTLA, which poured money into his campaign.
Though Al-Alim apologized for his posts, UTLA dropped its support. His campaign website and X account have gone dark and he has reported no campaign contributions or expenditures since the primary election, but he said in a text message that he was still campaigning. Beyond that, Al-Alim’s positions, such as opposing police on campus and the co-location of charter schools at traditional public schools, are in lock step with the teachers union’s agenda.
Newbill, in contrast, has shown a willingness to defy powerful interest groups to do what’s best for students and their families, an approach that will strengthen the LAUSD board and make it more responsive to communities it serves. Voters should give her the job.
