Board of Education member Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte, a persistent critic of sweeping changes in Los Angeles schools and a staunch defender of teachers and administrators, has died. She was 80.
LaMotte was found unresponsive in a San Diego hotel room Thursday after her absence was noticed at an education conference. She was pronounced dead at 10 a.m. No cause of death was immediately available, but LaMotte had battled various ailments, according to the San Diego County coroner's office.
"Her rich experiences as a teacher and principal informed her decisions," said board President Richard Vladovic. "She never stopped fighting" for students.
Elected in 2003, LaMotte was part of a board minority who distrusted and often resisted colleagues aligned with then-Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who sought aggressive changes in the school system.
She and Villaraigosa had once supported each other, but he broke with her for opposing his effort to take over the school system. She never forgave him — loyalty ranked near the top of the qualities LaMotte practiced and respected in others.
Villaraigosa was finally thwarted by L.A. Unified in court. He subsequently raised funds to elect an allied board majority in 2007, but LaMotte was unbeatable, benefiting from a reliable following, long-standing community ties and a campaign underwritten by the teachers union.
Support from teachers dates to her time as a principal, especially during a decade at Washington Preparatory High School, which she led until 2001.
In 2003, "my members who had worked with her at Washington Prep demanded that I support her for school board," said former union President John Perez.
LaMotte was known for helping to build a fine arts program at the campus, but like others before and after, could not turn around the campus academically.
L.A. County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas recalled a well-known incident "when a raucous crowd of maybe 100 young people began to brawl about a block away from the school. Marguerite threw herself into the middle, without any regard for her safety, and personally broke it up."
LaMotte was tall, stylish, usually genteel and notoriously poor at returning calls.
Her critics faulted her for some of the same traits her supporters celebrated: her rhetoric against charter schools, and her distrust of corporate-inspired reforms, such as limiting teachers' job protections. She also was assailed for failing to prepare for board meetings and for a sometimes lock-step alliance with the teachers union.
LaMotte, who represented a wide swath of South Los Angeles, was the longest serving of the board's seven members but never played a leadership role. Both critics and supporters, however, recalled episodes of influence and insight.
In 2008, the Villaraigosa majority wanted to force out Supt. David Brewer, an African American who relied on LaMotte for support within the black community. LaMotte chose not to be racially divisive, asking only that Brewer be treated respectfully on the way out.
Though a union loyalist, LaMotte could exert independence. She quietly acceded in 2010 when then-Supt. Ramon Cortines replaced much of the staff at Fremont High — over the union's objections.
"I said, 'Here is the data and we need to do something about that school.' And she said, 'Yes, we do,'" said Cortines, who retired in 2011.
Relations were frequently strained with current Supt. John Deasy. In October, LaMotte was the only dissenting vote against giving Deasy a positive evaluation and contract extension.
LaMotte was untouched by scandal except in 2010, when she tried to save the job of charter school operator John Allen, even though he had allegedly ordered teachers and administrators to cheat on state standardized tests.
Her action was an act of loyalty to a respected black educator who also directed the choir at her church.
LaMotte called students her "babies," and she had an instinctive understanding of issues that colleagues grew to respect.
A Louisiana native, born on July 17, 1933, in the segregated South, LaMotte ran a Baton Rouge business college while she completed an honors bachelor's degree in education at Southern University in 1961. She earned a master's in education from Louisiana State University in 1965.
She moved to L.A. in 1973, first working as a substitute teacher before quickly moving up the ranks. She was a regional operations administrator before agreeing to head Washington Prep.
"Ms. LaMotte was an education pioneer throughout her life," said board member Steve Zimmer.
Her survivors include two children and four grandchildren.
howard.blume@latimes.com
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