Now LAUSD board member Korenstein is retiring

LAUSD BOARD MEMBER JULIE KORENSTEIN
ISSUES STATEMENT REGARDING HER BOARD OF EDUCATION SEAT

Los Angeles - After 22 years of service to the children and employees of
the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), veteran Board Member
Julie Korenstein has made the decision to not run for the Board of
Education District 6 seat she has held for more than two decades.
"There are major decisions that one must make in a lifetime.
The first one was when I ran for the Board of Education 22 years ago; I
was a mother with three children all attending LAUSD. Today, I am a
grandmother of four.
"I have had many amazing experiences serving on the Board
everything from reducing class-size in K-3, supporting full-day
kindergarten, improving test scores to advocating dropout prevention
programs. In addition, construction and opening of 74 brand new schools
with an additional 58 schools in the next few years, as well as
sustainable/green schools, recycling, to the integrated pest management
program which reduced carcinogenic chemicals on our campuses.
"Today I have made another important decision. I am proud of the
contributions I have made, and I look forward to a very exciting and
rewarding retirement. Thank you for all who have supported me
throughout the years."
For information about Korenstein's work history in the LAUSD,
see her biography below.

JULIE KORENSTEIN
Biographical Information

Julie Korenstein has over thirty-six years of experience as an
education advocate and has been a Member of the Los Angeles City Board
of Education for twenty-two years. She began working in education in
1968 as a parent volunteer, became a paid teacher assistant in 1970 and
continued as a substitute teacher for the Los Angeles Unified School
District (LAUSD) until launching her tutoring service for at-risk youth.
Tutoring in the areas of social studies, remedial reading, English and
mathematics, she began to focus in on what has become for her an
educational priority -- dropout prevention strategies.

While working as a teacher during the 1980's at Chatsworth High School,
Ms. Korenstein taught a model program, Exploratory Community Service
that provided students with volunteer opportunities in various fields.
Ms. Korenstein was one of the early initiators of service learning. The
aim of the program was to help students gain the work experience and
insight that would help them make decisions about future careers,
technical training or higher education as well as the intrinsic value of
volunteering. Today high schools, community colleges and universities
are establishing service learning programs as a part of their ongoing
curriculum.

Ms. Korenstein was first elected in 1987 to fill an unexpired term,
representing Board District 4 (West San Fernando Valley) and won the
seat again in 1989. In 1993, she won the seat for Board District 6
(West San Fernando Valley, Van Nuys/Sherman Oaks, and Sunland/Tujunga)
and was reelected in 1997. She was reelected in 2001 for Board
District 6 (Arleta, Lakeview Terrace, Mission Hills, North Hollywood,
North Hills, Pacoima, Panorama City, San Fernando, Sun Valley,
Sunland/Tujunga, Sylmar, and Van Nuys). In 2005, Ms. Korenstein was
again reelected to represent Board District 6. Ms. Korenstein is
the longest serving Board Member in the history of LAUSD.

Ms. Korenstein has been a major proponent of local control and
decision-making and helped develop the Shared Decision
Making/School-Based Management proposal. She also believes that it is
extremely important to be accessible to her school communities and has
worked very closely with her schools to resolve ongoing problems and
concerns. She has always acknowledged the importance of parent
involvement. She hosts an annual parent summit in the beginning of each
school year for parents where the latest District information is
presented.

Since 1989, Ms. Korenstein has provided funding for the Kindergarten
Intervention Program (KIP) which addresses the needs of at-risk children
experiencing academic, social or emotional problems. This model dropout
prevention program targets children in kindergarten and in the first
grade and uses trained volunteers to assist in activities that improve
academic performance.

Pre-school/Early Education has been a major priority for Ms. Korenstein.
She has helped to expand this program in LAUSD and believes that Early
Education is the best drop-out prevention program there is. She has
been a major supporter in the implementation of the class size reduction
program for grades K-3rd, where the maximum number of students is 20:1,
as well as for Full Day Kindergarten in LAUSD.

Ms. Korenstein is also in the forefront on school safety issues. In
1989, Ms. Korenstein established the School Safety and Security Task
Force to study how to make LAUSD schools safer for children. Many of the
recommendations resulting from this in-depth study were adopted by the
board and are in operation today. In 1999, Ms. Korenstein was also
instrumental in helping to bring about a new Integrated Pest Management
Policy to phase out the use of dangerous pesticides and herbicides. Ms.
Korenstein currently chairs the School Safety, Health and Human
Services, and Human Relations Committee, which examines matters
involving student affairs, school safety, and human relations, including
environmental issues.
Ms. Korenstein provides annual funding for a San Fernando Valley Youth
Summit, which allows the opportunity for over 700 LAUSD students to
participate in a day of dialogue on inter-group relations.

Mindful that good nutrition and student achievement go hand in hand and
a long time advocate for nutritious meals in LAUSD, Ms. Korenstein has
been a pioneer in this area and helped lay the ground work for the
'LAUSD Healthy Foods Policy'.
In the 1997-98 school year, Ms. Korenstein was chosen by her colleagues
to serve as Board President. During that time LAUSD began to see an
increase in student achievement. Test scores and attendance began to
improve. The dropout rates decreased and intervention programs were
developed. This marked the beginning of the reform movement. Ms.
Korenstein played an integral role in creating a 3-year labor contract
with LAUSD unions resulting in positive employee relations during this
time period.

In 1999, Ms. Korenstein was appointed by Governor Gray Davis to serve on
the California Community College Board of Governors. In this role she
was able to expand her educational experience into the community
colleges linking K-12 education with higher learning. She helped to
develop and initiate a program where high school students can attend
community college classes and earn both high school and college credits
concurrently.
Ms. Korenstein initiated the development of an LAUSD high school on the
California State University Northridge (CSUN) campus where students have
the opportunity to work with college students who are preparing to
become teachers. Northridge Academy opened in 2006.

Ms. Korenstein was involved in the development of the Schools for
Advanced Studies (SAS) Program. The focus of this program is to support
continuous education at all grade levels for gifted and talented
students. The SAS program was implemented in 1998-1999 and it has been
extremely successful.
Ms. Korenstein has been intricately involved in the development and
implementation of LAUSD's School Construction Program, which is the
largest school construction program in the nation. Currently there are
74 brand new schools with an additional 60 schools that will be built
within the next 5 years.

Committed to the preservation of our planet, Ms. Korenstein has been
very instrumental in the implementation of the District's Sustainable
Green Schools Program. Since 2001, all LAUSD new schools have been
designed to 'green' standards. Her commitment to
building healthy and sustainable schools in the District is evident
through the various Board Resolutions that she has authored. In 2008,
Ms. Korenstein and LAUSD were honored with the prestigious 'California
Environmental Leadership Award' by Global Green for its ongoing
leadership in providing students with healthy and sustainable learning
environments.

Ms. Korenstein's involvement has been influential in the nationally
renowned LAUSD Recycling Program, which has saved the District millions
of dollars. LAUSD was recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) for its waste reduction and recycling programs and honored with
the 'EPA School District Partner of the Year' award from 2001 to 2006.
In 2008, the EPA selected LAUSD for induction into the Waste Wise Hall
of Fame.
Ms. Korenstein attended schools in the Los Angeles Unified School
District and received her B.A. Degree in history from California State
University (Northridge) in 1971. She received her Elementary Teaching
Credential in 1972 and her Secondary Teaching Credential in 1974. Born
in California, Ms. Korenstein has been a resident of the San Fernando
Valley for over thirty-six years. Ms. Korenstein is a grandmother of
four and all three of her children graduated from LAUSD schools.