UCLA student runs for school board

By Stephanie Bertholdo Acorn Staff Writer

Dylan Loewe

Dylan Loewe, 20, belies his age; he has a rich background in education and politics. Loewe is running for one of the two school board seats in Las Virgenes Unified School District, challenging incumbents Terilyn Finders and Pat Schultz, both of whom are seeking second terms in the Nov. 4 election.

A UCLA student who’s taking the fall quarter off to run for election, Loewe expects to graduate next June with degrees in education and political science.

"I don’t believe that the current board is doing their job," Loewe said. If elected, he said he would "provide truly collaborative action and aggressive oversight."

LVUSD is "facing a crisis of leadership and accountability," Loewe said. New ideas are needed to deal with the many problems facing the district, he said.

Having served as a school board representative when he was a Calabasas High School senior, Loewe said he attended "nearly every board meeting and study session in the last three years," which deepened his interest in education and his understanding of district and school policies and procedures. He worked on the legislative coalition and the curriculum council.

Loewe now serves as deputy to Calabasas Mayor Pro Tem Michael Harrison, and is a political finance consultant with Dolan & Associates, having worked with state Assembly members Jackie Goldberg and Lloyd Levine and Los Angeles Unified School District Board Member David Tokofsky.

Loewe believes that the current board doesn’t ask the "tough questions." Throughout every issue, he said, the board tends to accept staff recommendation. "You can’t assume that staff recommendations are correct," he said.

The school district, Loewe added, is "knee deep" in budget woes. He said he’s discovered a lot of waste and believes it’s wrong to agree to a $24,000 retirement incentive bonus to Superintendent John Fitzpatrick "in the middle of a budget crisis."

Loewe also cited $800,000 that was paid to an energy education firm that "tells schools to turn lights off and thermometers up." While Loewe agrees that it’s wise to save money on utilities, he said that the board members should use common sense when it comes to spending.

Other expenditures that Loewe finds suspicious include $45,000 paid to a "campaign consultant" who conducted a "political poll" and spending too much on attorneys’ fees. Two years ago, he said, LVUSD was sued by the teachers’ union when a principal changed a student’s grade. The galling point for Loewe was that the district then appealed the case for "policy clarification" and lost again. "It was simply ridiculous," Loewe said.

Loewe concedes that many of the budget problems are based on "extreme mismanagement" at the state level, but he added that students cannot be "held hostage."

If he were elected, Loewe said that he’d focus spending on core academic programs. He would also attempt to find alternate sources of funds to help cutbacks made by the state. To ease the process, he said he’d "infuse the voices of parents, teachers, community members and community leaders in the direction of our schools."

His supporters include, he said, Westlake Village Mayor Chris Mann, Hidden Hills Mayor Stewart Siegel, Calabasas City Councilman Barry Groveman, PFA presidents Cindy Goldstein and Lauren Kurzweil, teachers and others.

As of Sept. 20, Loewe raised an impressive $23,865 for his campaign. He said he’s "going door to door daily" and that by the time of the election, he will have visited every precinct and almost every street in the district.