As the Long Beach Unified School District inches toward a budget year with massive cuts and recently decided to place a parcel tax on the November ballot to ask the public for financial help, it’s been no secret that one of the five Board chairs has been empty since May 5.
That would be the chair of District 3 representative Michael Ellis, who has been unreachable at home, mailing address or by phone after repeated attempts by the LBUSD. He promised to attend a meeting a few weeks ago, and didn’t. An online article by the District Weekly‘s Theo Douglas today doesn’t locate Ellis – who has missed more than two consecutive months of meetings – but it may provide a little insight into the reason for his unexplained disappearance.
Writes Douglas:
Ellis is a wanted man; he has been for 11 months now–since Aug. 28, 2008, when Torrance Superior Court Judge Sandra Thompson revoked his probation for an Oct. 2006 arrest in Redondo Beach and subsequent conviction on two misdemeanors: a hit-and-run, and driving on a suspended license.
Douglas goes on to interview several shocked members of the LBUSD and explain that Ellis has twice violated his probation in Orange County, while a warrant was issued for his arrest in Los Angeles County back in August of 2008 after he failed to appear at a court date. Douglas also points out that for more than three months – between September ’08 and January ’09 – Ellis was wanted in both counties at the same time, which has to be some kind of record for School Boardmembers.
The District article promises more information in its print edition, which comes out today.