Born and raised in Los Angeles,

Nick has dedicated his life to championing the needs of our kids as a local teacher, civil rights advocate, nonprofit director, and School Board Member.

TEACHER & CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY
Nick began his career as a local public school teacher at Markham Middle School in Watts. In addition to teaching English, he helped his students launch the school newspaper and coached the baseball and soccer teams. Budget cuts and outdated seniority rules resulted in inadequate resources for his students and eventually led to Nick and two-thirds of Markham’s teachers being laid off.

Recognizing that these issues weren’t just harming Watts students, but students and their families across Los Angeles and the state, Nick joined the ACLU, Mayor Villaraigosa, and others to bring a ground-breaking civil rights lawsuit which argued that LAUSD’s indiscriminate, seniority-based layoffs violated the rights of students.

Inspired by his work with the ACLU, Nick went to law school on a public interest fellowship where he took part in various civil rights investigations while working in the Obama White House with the Domestic Policy Council and with the U.S. Attorney’s office.

SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER
As a teacher, Nick had seen firsthand how problems outside the classroom were holding students and their families back. He knew his students deserved better leadership, opportunities, and support from their schools in order to succeed, and in 2017, Nick defeated the incumbent Board Member on the premise of putting students and families first.  

During the past nine years representing over 700,000 residents of the diverse communities of District 4 on the School Board, Nick has fought to improve student learning by increasing vocational education opportunities and broadening early education opportunities. He has supported historic investments in early literacy teachers, librarians, other educators, and championing expanded bilingualism through dual-language pathways.

Nick has also promoted equity and expansion of the social safety net across our community. He spearheaded a historic city-funded universal college savings accounts for District students, invested $700 million to support students with the highest needs, and directed hundreds of millions of dollars to schools to repair and modernize campuses, bridge the digital divide, expand access to nutritious meals for all students, and to provide school-based health services. He has supported recent efforts to provide resources to immigrant students and families, including through innovative nonprofit legal partnerships.

More recently, Nick has spearheaded the District’s nationally groundbreaking cell phone ban, and is pushing for tighter controls and restrictions on screens in schools so kids can have more hands-on learning. He has spearheaded initiatives to increase field trips, and outdoor experiential learning, and promote green play spaces in school.

Nick has done this while working to increase district transparency and accountability. Under his leadership, he worked to reduce the District’s long-term liabilities, leading to improved credit rating.

VOLUNTEER 
Nick’s commitment to combating educational inequity was sparked over 20 years ago when he first volunteered at Camp Harmony, a camp for local children who are homeless or housing insecure. Nick is proud to have continued his work with the camp, currently serving as the Camp Director.

A proud member of the Jewish community, Nick has served on the University Synagogue’s Social Justice Committee, the Jewish Center for Justice, and the Union of Reform Judaism. He has also chaired the Jewish Federation’s Educators Network and is a proud graduate of the Jewish Federation’s New Leader’s Project.

EDUCATION
Nick Melvoin received a BA from Harvard University, a Master’s in Urban Education from Loyola Marymount University (LMU) , and a law degree from New York University, where he was a Root Tilden Kern Scholar. An advocate for continuous education, he recently earned a certificate in education finance from Georgetown University and previously served as an adjunct professor at LMU teaching Education Law.

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