Nick Melvoin's Office Faces Another Ethics Complaint

“No school district funds, services, supplies, or equipment shall be used for the purpose of urging the support or defeat of any ballot measure or candidate.” - California Ed Code Section 7054

Earlier this year, complaints were filed with both the Los Angeles Unified School District and the City of Los Angeles claiming that Board Member Nick Melvoin had run afoul of ethics rules meant to protect the integrity of elections. Allegations were made that Melvoin had improperly converted his school board Twitter handle to one that is used for campaign purposes, promoted his campaign’s social media accounts using district resources, and used pictures of students that could have possibly been taken on LAUSD property.

A new complaint filed with the LAUSD’s Inspector General’s office suggests that violations of ethical principles are growing like a cancer in Melvoin’s Board District 4 offices. This new filing accuses his Chief Advisor, Allison Holdorff Polhill, of using pictures taken on the Palisades Charter High School’s campus in her campaign to become a Los Angeles City Councilmember. Since this facility is owned by the LAUSD, no district employee should be using it for political purposes.

On the same website, Polhill brags about delivering “$20 million to Palisades [Charter] High School to fund repairs to the school’s air conditioning and heating systems” and supporting “the expansion of a French Immersion program”. As a former board member at Palisades, this is a clear conflict of interest that prioritized the needs of students at this charter school over children from needier areas who attend public schools.

Further adding to Polhill’s ethical challenges are the questions about divided loyalties presented by her role as the Education Advisor to the Pacific Palisades Community Council. As an LAUSD employee, she should be expected to advocate on behalf of district students, but at a recent meeting of this council where she was representing Melvoin, she seemed more interested in highlighting her efforts on behalf of Palisades Charter High School. Now that she is a city council candidate, she has a motive to put these political interests above those of students and the district, all while still drawing an LAUSD salary.

The clear answer to resolving these ethical improprieties is for Holdorff to resign her position with the district the same way that Ankur Patel left his position as Scott Schmerelson’s School and Community Coordinator when he decided to run for the California State Assembly. He did this to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest between his candidacy and his responsibilities as a staff member for an LAUSD board member. Holdorff needs to follow this example.

As long as Holdorff remains in her position with the LAUSD, she maintains an unfair advantage over her opponents in the city council election. It is up to the Inspector General to ensure that this advantage is not aided by the district. This office must address the complaint that was filed against Holdorff as quickly as possible and act in a way that will ensure that future violations do not occur. They owe it to the voters in both Board District 4 and LA City Council District 11.

Carl Petersen is a parent advocate for students with special education needs and public education. He is an elected member of the Northridge East Neighborhood Council and serves as the Education Chair. As a Green Party candidate in LAUSD’s District 2 School Board race, he was endorsed by Network for Public Education (NPE) Action. Dr. Diane Ravitch has called him “a valiant fighter for public schools in Los Angeles.” For links to his blogs, please visit www.ChangeTheLAUSD.com. Opinions are his own.