David tokofsky biography
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Tokofsky won’t seek reelection
David Tokofsky, a celebrated teacher who became an iconoclastic school board member and, more recently, one of the most vocal critics of the mayor’s efforts to win authority over local schools, announced Saturday that he would not seek reelection to the Board of Education.
The pullout of Tokofsky, who filed papers last month indicating he would run again, will trigger a one-week reopening of the filing period for candidates in District 5, the mayor’s office said. The district stretches from Eagle Rock to the cities of southeast Los Angeles County. A new challenger would have little time to organize a campaign.
Only one other candidate, Yolie Flores Aguilar, who narrowly lost to Tokofsky in 1999, remains in the race.
Tokofsky said he submitted his notice of withdrawal Saturday at City Hall, where the election office was open because of a filing requirement in an unrelated race. He squeezed in the errand around a birthday party for his 6-year-old dau
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Jowled and affable, David Tokofsky is the kind of guy who can’t get in the door of Camilo’s California Bistro before being recognized and greeted by other patrons and distributing handshakes to the waitstaff.
Officially, the 53 year-old Eagle Rock resident is a part-time consultant for the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles (AALA), the school administrators’ union.
His Twitter bio lists him as a “recovering skool bored member” – a jokey reference to Tokofsky’s 12-year Board stint, which ended several years ago.
But that barely touches the surface of Tokofsky’s connections.
Tokofsky is perhaps the quintessential behind-the-scenes player in Los Angeles education circles, operating as something between a professional gadfly and éminence grise.
He’s an LAUSD graduate, UTLA classroom veteran, and a consultant with clients including charter schools and traditional education agencies.
And
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Tokofsky’s files tell quite a story
The ever-rumpled David Tokofsky strolls into the Bonaventure Brewing Company 38 minutes late, talking on a cellphone, wheeling a big blue box brimming with school district files.
Almost every time I’ve met with or run into the L.A. Unified school board member, he’s been digging through towering heaps of manila files stuffed with memos, letters, charts, news clips and arcane Excel documents.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. Feb. 3, 2007 For The Record
Los Angeles Times Saturday February 03, 2007 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 66 words Type of Material: Correction
David Tokofsky: Monday’s School Me column by Bob Sipchen reported that Los Angeles Board of Education member David Tokofsky had decided not to run for a third term. It would have been his fourth term. The column also said Tokofsky won his first board election at age 33 after nine years of teaching. He was elected at age 35 and had been a teacher 12 years.