Parents, residents demand transparency amid superintendent probe as LAUSD board recesses into closed session

Public commenters at a special meeting of the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education on Feb. 26 pressed the board for greater transparency about district finances and the status of an inquiry involving the superintendent, and the board recessed into closed session to discuss a personnel matter.

The meeting opened at 4:04 p.m., and the clerk told the public the board would take comments on a single personnel item — the general superintendent of schools — pursuant to Government Code section 54957 before moving into closed session. A resident who spoke in Spanish accused board members of hypocrisy and corruption, saying, "You don't deserve to represent this district" and that poor students are being discriminated against while wealthier families receive better schools.

Diana Guillen, who identified herself to the board as representing about 5,600 parents and the parent network, urged the board to provide clearer financial reporting and accountability. "There is $18,000,000,000 in which there is no transparency," Guillen said, and she referenced an FBI presence in the wake of recent reporting and community concern. "Let's hope that now the FBI is here, you start listening," she said, adding that parents have repeatedly asked for transparent school- and region-level budgets and accessible information in multiple languages.

Maria Duran, speaking remotely and identifying herself as the mother of a student in special education, told the board that leadership decisions affect individualized education programs and called for supervision that includes explicit special-education transparency, accessible communications, and mechanisms to ensure family participation. "Many families do not receive any accessible or inclusive ... participation for the parents is a right under the law," Duran said, urging the board to include special-education reporting and access in any leadership evaluation.

After public comment concluded, the board recessed into closed session at 4:13 p.m. "There was 1 item under personnel pursuant to Government Code section 54957, public employment, general superintendent of schools," the clerk said. When the board briefly reconvened at 7:55 p.m., the clerk announced the closed session would continue the next day at 12:30 p.m.; no public report about the closed session was released at that time.

The public comments recorded during the meeting raised allegations of opaque financial practices and sought explicit protections and transparency for special-education students and families. The board's formal action at the meeting was to move into closed session under the cited personnel exception, with the closed session continued until the next day. Any formal decisions about employment or discipline of district officials are governed by the closed-session rules under Government Code section 54957 and, absent a public report, were not disclosed during the meeting.