Blumenfeld ’13 to seek school board spot

Tired of seeing adults in the K-12 education reform movement prioritizing their own interests over the well-being of students, Andrew Blumenfeld ’13 is taking matters into his own hands. A former student in the La Canada Unified School District, Blumenfeld has decided to run for a four-year position on his local school district board with the hopes of bringing about change in a community close to his heart.

Blumenfeld said his primary goal is to improve teacher quality in his school district by prioritizing measures in LCUSD’s teacher contracts that mandate regular evaluation of teachers and peer assistance review programs that pair exemplary teachers with problematic ones.

“If the number one output that matters to us is student achievement and all the common sense says that the number one factor in achievement is teacher quality, then the number one priority should be having an excellent teacher in every classroom,” he said.

In recent years, the domestic education reform movement has targeted low-income urban neighborhoods, where teachers strive just to keep their students in school.

Blumenfeld’s affluent La Canada school district is different, however: The town “cares, more than anything, about its schools,” Blumenfeld said.

But Blumenfeld was quick to note that the relative successes of La Canada schools have little to do with the school district’s organizational model. Rather, it is the effort that students and teachers make to create their own alternative education models. In La Canada Flintridge, Blumenfeld noted as an example, affluent students have the resources to seek out extensive tutoring and parents can devote themselves full-time to their children’s education.

These tactics allow students to survive despite the poor quality of their teachers. But the fundamental issue — that “the La Canada district hires and fires [their] teachers in the same way that Compton [schools] do” — needs to be addressed, Blumenfeld said.

“Working in a district like La Canada has made it abundantly clear that what’s broken about education in America is broken across the board,” he explained.

Blumenfeld said he had not initially intended to run for the La Canada school board. After observing that the two individuals contending for an open position were not who he felt were ideal candidates, he wrote to his local paper suggesting that someone else should run.

A response to his letter suggested that Blumenfeld himself should campaign. After giving the idea some thought and consulting a former board member who now acts as his campaign co-chair, he accepted the challenge.

Though Blumenfeld’s age might bring up questions of experience and qualification for the board position, Blumenfeld said that his community is extremely supportive of his campaign. His previous work with the board during high school, numerous connections to parents in the community and his own experiences as a student in La Canada schools have made him very familiar with the school district, Blumenfeld explained.

Blumenfeld was quick to emphasize that avenues of action already exist that could address the issues on his campaign platform. Ultimately, he said, his approach to education reform is grounded in reality and tangible goals.

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“There’s a myth that we have to invent or negotiate or legislate new tools for the school district that we don’t have. That’s not true,” he said. “It’s a very self-evaluative and self-reflective process. We should be setting goals for ourselves and rigorously evaluating our progress on those goals.”

Blumenfeld has been involved in education reform since his freshman year, serving as one of the founding members of Students For Education Reform. Undergraduate students are “tremendously valuable in social movements because of their energy, will and attention,” he said, adding that he appreciates SFER’s local and national perspective on the educational reform movement and hopes to bring it to the LCUSD board.

Fellow SFER founding member Claire Cole ’12 spoke highly of Blumenfeld’s dedication to and enthusiasm for this cause.

“Andrew blends this sort of kooky exuberance with being really on point and driven with work,” she said, adding that Blumenfeld frequently draws upon his own observations of the La Canada district to inform his work in SFER.

If elected to the board, Blumenfeld will serve a four-year term and be required to attend monthly board meetings, though the board position is not a full-time, salaried job. He plans to fly back to La Canada Flintridge for each meeting and engage in community outreach during the time that he is there.

On campus, Blumenfeld is also a Writing Center fellow, founder and president of the LGBT awareness group Princeton Equality Project, a USG senator and a member of Tower Club.