Scott Mark Schmerelson
Scott Mark Schmerelson is a member of the Los Angeles Unified School District in California, representing District 3. He assumed office in 2015. His current term ends on December 8, 2028.
Schmerelson ran for re-election to the Los Angeles Unified School District to represent District 3 in California. He won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Schmerelson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Schmerelson was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Temple University with a bachelor's degree in 1973 and a master's degree in 1975.[1] Schmerelson has worked as a Spanish teacher, a secondary counselor, an assistant principal and a principal in the Los Angeles Unified School District. He has also served as treasurer of the Cuban-American Teachers' Association and as executive director of Region 16 of the Association of California School Administrators.[2][3]
Elections
2024
See also: Los Angeles Unified School District, California, elections (2024)
General election
General election for Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education District 3
Incumbent Scott Mark Schmerelson defeated Dan Chang in the general election for Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education District 3 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Scott Mark Schmerelson (Nonpartisan)  | 51.6 | 124,331 |
 | Dan Chang (Nonpartisan) | 48.4 | 116,478 | |
| Total votes: 240,809 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education District 3
The following candidates ran in the primary for Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education District 3 on March 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Scott Mark Schmerelson (Nonpartisan) | 44.5 | 50,669 |
| ✔ | | Dan Chang (Nonpartisan) | 29.0 | 33,004 |
 | Raquel Villalta (Nonpartisan) | 12.0 | 13,632 | |
| Elizabeth Badger (Nonpartisan) | 8.2 | 9,287 | ||
 | Andreas Farmakalidis (Nonpartisan) | 6.3 | 7,131 | |
| Janie Dam (Nonpartisan) (Write-in) | 0.1 | 81 | ||
| Total votes: 113,804 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Endorsements
To view Schmerelson's endorsements as published by their campaign, click here. Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Schmerelson in this election.
2020
See also: Los Angeles Unified School District, California, elections (2020)
General election
General election for Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education District 3
Incumbent Scott Mark Schmerelson defeated Marilyn Koziatek in the general election for Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education District 3 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Scott Mark Schmerelson (Nonpartisan) | 53.2 | 143,370 |
 | Marilyn Koziatek (Nonpartisan) | 46.8 | 125,914 | |
| Total votes: 269,284 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education District 3
Incumbent Scott Mark Schmerelson and Marilyn Koziatek defeated Elizabeth Badger and John Sandy Campbell in the primary for Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education District 3 on March 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Scott Mark Schmerelson (Nonpartisan) | 42.4 | 56,737 |
| ✔ | | Marilyn Koziatek (Nonpartisan) | 31.6 | 42,301 |
| Elizabeth Badger (Nonpartisan) | 26.0 | 34,856 | ||
 | John Sandy Campbell (Nonpartisan) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 48 | |
| Total votes: 133,942 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Endorsements
To view Schmerelson's endorsements in the 2020 election, please click here.
2015
Four of the seven seats on the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education were up for primary election on March 3, 2015. Only one candidate, unopposed District 1 incumbent George J. McKenna III, received more than 50 percent of the votes cast in the primary. Because of this, he won his seat outright, and the top two vote-getters in Districts 3, 5 and 7 advanced to the general election on May 19, 2015.
Incumbents Tamar Galatzan, Bennett Kayser and Richard A. Vladovic from Districts 3, 5 and 7, respectively, received enough votes to advance to the general election. They each faced at least two challengers in the primary. In District 3, Galatzan faced five challengers, Elizabeth Badger Bartels, Filiberto Gonzalez, Ankur Patel, Carl J. Petersen and Scott Mark Schmerelson. She and Schmerelson faced each other again in the general election. Kayser and challenger Ref Rodriguez defeated challenger Andrew Thomas to continue on to the District 5 general election. In the District 7 primary, Vladovic ran against challengers Euna Anderson and Lydia Gutierrez. Gutierrez received enough votes to advance to the general election with Vladovic.
In the general election, both Galatzan and Kayser were unseated by their challengers. Schmerelson won the District 3 seat, and Rodriguez was elected to the District 5 seat. In District 7, Vladovic defeated Gutierrez to secure another term on the board.
Results
General election
| Los Angeles Unified School District, District 3 General Election, 5-year term, 2015 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Nonpartisan |  Scott Mark Schmerelson |
54.8% | 20,287 | |
| Nonpartisan | Tamar Galatzan Incumbent | 45.2% | 16,755 | |
| Total Votes | 37,042 | |||
| Source: Los Angeles City Clerk, "Certified Final Bulletin," accessed May 28, 2015 | ||||
Primary election
| Los Angeles Unified School District, District 3 Primary Election, 5-year term, 2015 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Nonpartisan | Tamar Galatzan Incumbent |
40.2% | 15,326 | |
| Nonpartisan | Scott Mark Schmerelson |
20.4% | 7,767 | |
| Nonpartisan | Ankur Patel | 12.8% | 4,870 | |
| Nonpartisan | Elizabeth Badger Bartels | 10.8% | 4,125 | |
| Nonpartisan | Carl J. Petersen | 10.1% | 3,839 | |
| Nonpartisan | Filiberto Gonzalez | 5.8% | 2,213 | |
| Total Votes | 38,140 | |||
| Source: Los Angeles City Clerk's Office, "Primary Nominating Election: Official Election Results," accessed March 23, 2015 | ||||
Funding
Schmerelson reported $77,725.00 in contributions and $83,357.28 in expenditures to the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission, which left his campaign with $9,095.82 as of May 13, 2015.[4]
Endorsements
Schmerelson received endorsements from the California School Employees Association and the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles.[2][5][6] After he advanced to the general election, United Teachers Los Angeles also endorsed him.[7]
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Scott Mark Schmerelson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Schmerelson's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
| Collapse all
- School Safety is of paramount importance. I'm endorsed by School Police, School Nurses, and Los Angeles Police Officers
- I am supported by teachers, administrators, school police, parents, community members across the district, the Democratic Party, the LA County Federation of Labor, and Planned Parenthood.
- I believe in local control of school budgets and decision making process.
Since assuming office, even though I have endured truly hateful campaigns aimed to portray me as an evil politico willing to say or do anything, I have stuck to my prinicipals. I support transitioning our schools to 100% green energy. I support working with environmental organizations to create clean communities - including closing Alison Canyon.
The job of a school board member is NOT to represent on special interest group, or one type of school, over all others. Nor is partisanship. Its all about doing what needs to be done to help the kids
Make sure that we get fair funding that ALL our kids need and deserve, while we prepare them to lead in the 21st Century Economy.
Work with parents to make informed choices, and to resolve any problems they may encounter with the LAUSD bureaucracy or their local school.
Having a district office in Lake Balboa adjacent to the Birmingham Charter High School Office, I spent a great deal of time meeting with constituents there, and I also meet regularly with teachers, administrators, other school staff, students, and members of the community. In those meetings, I listen carefully to what each has to say about their local school, the Local District Northwest (a mini-district) and of course, the LAUSD as a whole. Where I am given suggestions, I try to work to implement them. Where they express a problem or a need for help, I work with my staff to resolve those issues.
To this end, I find Neighborhood Councils, Chambers of Commerce, Parent Organizations, and stakeholder groups such as the School Police Officers Association and United Teachers Los Angeles to be very helpful in helping me make our schools safe places to both learn and to receive a quality education.
Furthermore, the federal government has mandated a variety of programs, both for students with special needs and other students. Yet the federal government has NEVER come close to meeting the costs of those mandates. The students AND our school district deserve better.
That is why as a school board member I have worked closely with teachers, school site administrators, school police officers, parents and students to insure that EVERY school in my school board district is getting the resources that it needs to keep its campuses safe.
Likewise, it is important that we have sufficient numbers of teams trained to help faculty and staff in times of crisis. We also need to be sure that our faculty and staff know how to navigate their health benefits providers so they can take advantage of the mental health supports that each provider offers.
I am also proud to meet regularly with parents whose native languages are Armenian and Korean.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
2020
Scott Mark Schmerelson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Schmerelson's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
| Collapse all
I ran for the school board to put my 40+ years of experience in classrooms/school sites ( experience my opponent does not have) to work for our schools. I know budgets. I know good instruction. I know how to help others deliver good instruction. Since my election I have worked to make sure every school - magnet, traditional, affiliated charter, or independent charter - gets every resource they are entitled to. I have worked hard to make sure that the schools get the necessary funding to modernize their campuses ( there are many such projects underway), and I have worked equally hard to be sure that every school meets the needs of English Language Learners, students with special needs, and every student who steps onto our campuses.
In this pandemic, I have the experience necessary to open schools. I am working with district officials to modify classrooms and campuses, and insure sufficient PPE is available to protect students/staff, so when schools are open they stay open.- Expererience Counts.
- Honesty and Integrity are my guiding principles
- I am supported by teachers, administrators, school police, parents, community members across the district
Furthermore, I try to bring perseverance to every challenge that my position presents me with, and seek the input of others before laying out an action plan. I make those plans, and make those decisions, based on my 40+ years of experience working on school campuses, but always with the idea that we must serve the needs of EVERY student in our district when we put those plans into action.
Since assuming office, even though I have endured truly hateful campaigns aimed to portray me as an evil politico willing to say or do anything, I have stuck to my prinicipals. I support transitioning our schools to 100% green energy. I support working with environmental organizations to create clean communities - including closing Alison Canyon.
The job of a school board member is NOT to represent on special interest group, or one type of school, over all others. Nor is partisanship. Its all about doing what needs to be done to help the kids
Make sure that we get fair funding that ALL our kids need and deserve, while we prepare them to lead in the 21st Century Economy.
Work with parents to make informed choices, and to resolve any problems they may encounter with the LAUSD bureaucracy or their local school.
This includes parents of students in the our schools, as well as those in the community who do not have children who attend LAUSD schools.
Having a district office in Lake Balboa adjacent to the Birmingham Charter High School Office, I spent a great deal of time meeting with constituents there, and I also meet regularly with teachers, administrators, other school staff, students, and members of the community. In those meetings, I listen carefully to what each has to say about their local school, the Local District Northwest (a mini-district) and of course, the LAUSD as a whole. Where I am given suggestions, I try to work to implement them. Where they express a problem or a need for help, I work with my staff to resolve those issues.
To this end, I find Neighborhood Councils, Chambers of Commerce, Parent Organizations, and stakeholder groups such as the School Police Officers Association and United Teachers Los Angeles to be very helpful in helping me make our schools safe places to both learn and to receive a quality education.
I am also proud to meet regularly with parents whose native languages are Armenian and Korean.
I will continue to support the district's efforts to reach out to local universities and colleges to recruit new teachers and other staff with a focus on hiring a diverse workforce more reflective of the ethnic makeup of our student population.
California ranks in the bottom third to the bottom fourth in funding for public education. That is a disgrace for what is the world's eighth largest economy. Our students deserve better. I have been working with a variety of stakeholders to develop solutions - and I proudly support Proposition 15, which will bring a more fair property tax system to our state while raising billions for schools.
But we need to do better by our newer teachers. We need to make sure that new hires get the kind of support and feedback they need, from both their peers and their school site administrators, to help them become better and better.
The students of the 21st century will need strong STEAM skills - Science, Technology, English, Arts and Math. This means that being computer literate is not enough. Our students must know who to apply basic educational knowledge to critical thinking problems. They must know who to use technology to help them solve those problems. And they must have good reading comprehension and writing skills because the most important skill for the 21st century could very well be the ability to learn and re-learn as technology advances and new knowledge makes old approaches obsolete.
A "21st Century Diploma" should be little different than the current high school diploma. It should be a reflection that a student has met a very rigorous set of graduation requirements AND that a student is able to use those skills and knowledge that they have attained to solve the problems they will encounter in the workforce and in the community.
At the same time, we need to prepare ALL of our students to be college ready, so that they have that option should they choose to go to college. This means we need every high school to offer a wide range of Advanced Placement and International Bacclaureate courses. We need to expand our partnerships with community colleges and universities, so that every high school student who wants to can enroll in college courses while in high school.
Furthermore, the federal government has mandated a variety of programs, both for students with special needs and other students. Yet the federal government has NEVER come close to meeting the costs of those mandates. The students AND our school district deserve better.
That is why as a school board member I have worked closely with teachers, school site administrators, school police officers, parents and students to insure that EVERY school in my school board district is getting the resources that it needs to keep its campuses safe.
Likewise, it is important that we have sufficient numbers of teams trained to help faculty and staff in times of crisis. We also need to be sure that our faculty and staff know how to navigate their health benefits providers so they can take advantage of the mental health supports that each provider offers.
To that end I have aggressively worked to get our campuses modernized. This means new buildings that are not only equipped with modern technology, but are built to support that technology. A number of campuses in my district are in the midst of major modernization projects.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
2015
Ballotpedia survey responses
Schmerelson participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates. The following sections display his responses to the survey questions. When asked what his top priority would be if elected, the candidate made the following statement:
| “ | Communicate and seek assistance from fellow board members to form alliances that best benefit my goal of improving the school site.
The position of the board member has a single important focus of having our children receive the best education possible. We must remember to fully fund our schools.[8] |
” |
| —Scott Mark Schmerelson (2015)[9] | ||
Ranking the issues
The candidate was asked to rank the following issues by importance in the school district, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. This table displays this candidate's rankings from most to least important:
| Education policy |
|---|
 |
Click here to learn more about education policy in California. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Expanding career-technical education | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Improving college readiness | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
Positions on the issues
The candidate was asked to answer 10 questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. The questions are in the left column, and the candidate's responses are in the right column of the following table:
| Question | Response |
|---|---|
| "Need to wait for Spring tests results and then make modifications." | |
| "We need to first give our traditional public schools the same authority as charter schools, and then approve new ones." | |
| "No. We have plenty of choice with traditional, magnet, pilot and charter schools." | |
| "Other non-standardized tests should also be used including teacher grades." | |
| "Lower class size.
Return to the school site the valuable positions such as counselors, psychiatric social workers and attendance counselors. Have parents encouraged to be partners in education by building stronger parent involvement centers."First use positive behavior strategies." | |
| "First use positive behavior strategies." | |
| "Lower class size
Return to the school site the valuable positions such as counselors, psychiatric social workers and attendance counselors. Have parents encouraged to be partners in education by building stronger parent involvement centers." | |
| "I support extra pay to successful teachers to mentor and assist struggling teachers at the school site." | |
| "Have successful teachers at the same school site allow struggling teachers to observe their teaching periods. Then have the successful teachers who were doing the observing, visit the struggling teacher’s classes and see if they are applying what they have observed." | |
| "Rotate school board meetings around the district so that all community members have a closer place to attend other than Beaudry.
Be a full time board member. Constantly monitor the expenditures of bond money for the intended use. Keep the community constantly aware of the expenditures in a timely fashion. This allows the community to monitor the proper use of the bond money." |
Candidate website
Schmerelson highlighted the following issues on his campaign website:
| “ | Teacher Evaluation
AGDC is wrong on so many levels. Test scores may have a role to play in education but ranking teachers on the basis of their test scores is wrong. Administrators should not be evaluating teachers, teachers should evaluate teachers. We must move to a PEER REVIEW system where teachers, chosen by administration and teachers together, evaluate the effectiveness of each other and HELP each other improve instruction. Misplaced Priorities and Resources Once you have seen a little sixth grader stagger under the weight of a backpack full of books you understand why e-devices are necessary moving forward for everyone. One size does not fit all, local decision making is necessary to determine the best way forward at each school. The money for these devices, however should never come from Bond Money. The appropriate funding would come from textbook money and since LAUSD is the largest district in the state, we need to go to Sacramento and get the law changed so we can use that money to purchase devices that hold textbooks. Teachers are the Key to a Great Education The average teacher has close to 10 years’ experience right now, why in the world would we move to get rid of struggling teachers without doing everything we can to help them improve instruction. Peer Assistance and Review (PAR) is the key. Expert teachers working with struggling teachers is how we must move forward. Recently, UTLA Leadership chose to withdraw from the PAR program because of chronic underfunding and an attempt by the last Superintendent to change the process into a punitive function. This must change. We must reinvest in PAR and expand it so that we can help struggling teachers be successful. Schools LA Students Deserve A great teacher in every classroom, classes small enough for teachers to be able to give individual students the attention they deserve, counseling, librarians, and support personnel that allow schools to address the real issues facing our students today, that is what is desperately needed in LAUSD. To have a great teacher in every room, we must attract, train, and retain the best talent though a compensation package that prompts teachers to choose LAUSD over other districts nationwide. We must provide an environment where teachers feel empowered to deliver the highest quality instruction to move our students beyond being just a test score. Local Control I have spent time at schools all over this city and have come to the following conclusion, those who are best able to understand what students need, are those closest to the student. Parents, teachers, and administrators at local sites should be making decisions for that school, not Beaudry. Local site councils are in the best position to decide where resources should go and how they should be allocated. LAUSD needs to support schools not visa versa. Bond Funds Voter approved Bond Funds are a sacred pact with the citizens of Los Angeles that LAUSD will use that money to fix decaying schools. We have a Bond Oversight Committee with members tasked to helping ensure that the money is not wasted. Members like Stuart Magruder howled at the notion of using bond money for IPADS. Instead of listening, our current board member tried to fire him. That money must be used for projects like the roof at Chatsworth High School to bring our schools out of decay. The work of groups like ‘Repairs Not Ipads’ highlights these projects and allows me to commit to you that when elected, I will make sure that money approved by voters for our schools goes to our schools, not some pet project of a Superintendent.[8] |
” |
| —Scott Mark Schmerelson's campaign website (2015)[10] | ||
See also
2024 Elections
External links
|
Candidate Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education District 3 |
Officeholder Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education District 3 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on October 17, 2020
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Smart Voter, "Scott Mark Schmerelson: Candidate for Board Member; Los Angeles Unified School District; District 3," accessed February 3, 2015
- ↑ LinkedIn, "Scott Schmerelson," accessed February 3, 2015
- ↑ Los Angeles City Ethics Commission, "2015 City and LAUSD Elections," accessed May 18, 2015
- ↑ LA School Report, "A quick look at who’s endorsing whom for LAUSD board," February 9, 2015
- ↑ Los Angeles Daily News, "LAUSD District 3 race: 5 challengers seek to end Tamar Galatzan’s reign," February 14, 2015
- ↑ LA School Report, "UTLA pulls back campaign spending on Kayser in shift to Schmerelson, "April 24, 2015
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2015
- ↑ Scott Schmerelson for School Board, "Issues," accessed February 18, 2015
