Julie Korenstein, the longest-serving Los Angeles school board member ever and a key teachers union ally, announced Thursday that she would not seek reelection, suddenly leaving two pivotal open seats on the seven-member Board of Education.
Her announcement came one day after two-term board member Marlene Canter also announced that she would step down when her term expires next June.
"I'm flabbergasted," said Bill Ouchi, a professor at UCLA Anderson School of Management who has long been involved in school-reform efforts. "These are two people who have put in unbelievable numbers of hours and have exposed themselves to tremendous personal criticism and pressures because they really care about the children and the schools. It's a changing of the guard."
In recent years, the board of the Los Angeles Unified School District has become a battleground for control between forces promoting different visions of reform. The main players have been the teachers union, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and supporters of charter schools, which are independent of direct district control.
Korenstein, 65, who has represented portions of the San Fernando Valley for the last 22 years, is regarded as United Teachers Los Angeles' closest board ally. She was likely to be targeted by well-financed opponents, but said she felt no pressure to bow out.
"I've accomplished a lot with a great deal of energy and fortitude, but it's time now," she said, noting that she was a mother of three when she was first elected and is now a grandmother of four.
During her tenure, Korenstein focused early on environmental issues affecting schools, and she also pushed for phonics-based reading programs that have since become almost universally accepted.
But having seen many reform plans come and go, she grew skeptical of initiatives, including the charter school movement, and distrustful of sweeping change in general.
"In losing Julie, we are losing long-term institutional memory," said Yvonne Chan, founder of the Vaughn Next Century Learning Center, a charter school in Korenstein's district. "But she's a worrywart. Everything has to be explained many times and it has to be perfect. So it delays reform efforts and pushes away risk-takers who are willing to let the horse out the door instead of beating the horse to death."
Korenstein was well-known for asking many questions, including some that restated previous ones.
