Marilyn Koziatek: A Champion In the Valley

14Apr
by La Comadre

Back in October, the La Comadre Network had the opportunity to speak with Marilyn Koziatek, who was running to represent district three for the Los Angeles Unified Board of Education. While she eventually conceded to the incumbent candidate, it was a tight race we followed closely. During the time she was running, LAUSD lacked parent representation on its board. Being a mother of two students attending an LAUSD school, this is something Marilyn aimed to recity as she explained: “As a mom, with kids in the district that, you know, I hear all the time, our classrooms don’t have enough resources. And I experienced that. What I see is this downtown bureaucracy, and I see the numbers. I know that my sons, when they attend our local school, they’re generating $36,000 a year of revenue for that local school site. So my question to LAUSD is how much of that ends up back into my school site, and what is siphoned off into the downtown bureaucracy? There’s fraud, waste, and abuse.”

Marilyn’s background is fascinating; growing up she accompanied her family on humanitarian missions that included building school houses and opening prenatal clinics in small villages in Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Pakistan, and Nepal. Currently, Marilyn chairs the Education Committee at the Valley Industry Commerce Association, sits on the 38th Assembly Education Advisory Committee, volunteers with the Children’s Hunger Fund, and is a member of the PTA at her kids’ public school.

We’re excited to follow Marilyn as she continues being a lighthouse for parent voices in the valley. Do you think it’s important LAUSD has parent representation on its board? Sound off and let us know in the comments!

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La Comadre

We are Moms, Tias, Ninas and Play-Tias who love children in our lives and we want to help every child succeed in school. Navigating schools and education—from preschool to college—is hard. We want to help each other with this. We are all in this together with you. We want to be a resource for you and for all of the children you love. Whether you need some info or you have info to share, you know where to go…LA Comadre.

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