Education Headlines
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
High school execs get a look at 'all the craziness'
Throughout Kern HSD -- one of just 10 districts chosen statewide by California School Employees Association to participate this year -- about 35 or so school administrators and district officials watched and learned from the classified school workers.School districts laying off more teachers
More than 100 Ventura County teachers have received final layoff notices, but that's fewer than some school districts had anticipated in March.Lodi Unified plans to put bond money to work on school renovations
Lodi Unified once planned to build a dozen new schools in north Stockton as the housing boom peaked . . . Now, Lodi Unified is focusing voter-approved bond money toward upgrades and renovations at its current schools.Support worker furloughs approved
Support workers in the Temecula School District have agreed to cut two days off their current work year to help balance the budget.Pomona middle school dark again after theives damage campus' electrical equipment
Classes will be out of session at Marshall Middle School again on Wednesday after thieves attempting to steal wiring from the campus earlier this week damaged the campus' electrical system.Pacific Grove school district mulls parcel tax
It's the third school district in Monterey County that's considering a parcel tax for this year, and yet another sign of how local districts are seeking alternatives to shrinking state and federal dollars.Crowd rallies against Desert Sands Unified teacher layoffs
Teachers, parents and students rallied at Desert Sands Unified School District's board room Tuesday in support of laid-off teachers. About 250 people joined the rally, many wearing pink “Save our Schools — Save our Students” T-shirts in honor of the 71 teachers who received final layoff notices, also called pink slips.Clovis West principal leaving for Santa Barbara The Fresno Bee
Ben Drati, Clovis West High School's principal the past four years, is leaving to become an assistant superintendent with the Santa Barbara Unified School District. In Santa Barbara, he will reunite with David Cash, who retired last May as Clovis Unified's superintendent. Cash took a job as Santa Barbara's superintendent the following month.Fresno Unified hires 2nd member of controversial Philadelphia team
The Fresno Unified School District has added another former member of a controversial communications team from Philadelphia. Fresno Unified's central office now includes two-thirds of the communications team that allegedly ran a propaganda machine for then-Philadelphia Superintendent Arlene Ackerman for almost a year until they stepped down amid a firestorm of controversy.Lawsuit attacks teacher tenure rules in low-income San Jose school district
Lawyers for seven schoolchildren from the South Bay and around California are suing the state and an East San Jose school district in an attempt to overturn five laws that they say violate their constitutional right to a fair education because they protect bad teachers.Families, teachers stunned by sudden closure of Oakland charter school
Civicorps Elementary, a charter school in North Oakland, is slated to close in June, after more than a decade on Alcatraz Avenue. The decision came suddenly last week, with little advance notice to staff members or parents, during a special meeting of its parent organization's governing board.Ramanathan: Persuade, not threaten, me to vote for your initiative, Governor
Like many Californians, the closer it gets to November, the more I’ll be thinking about that vote and what it means – just as I thought long and hard before voting in 2010 for Jerry Brown.Baron: Another strike at Transitional Kindergarten
Governor Brown isn’t giving up on efforts to curtail Transitional Kindergarten (TK), despite being rebuffed by both the Senate and Assembly subcommittees dealing with education funding. The May Revision budget plan, released Monday, seeks to make TK a voluntary program and use the savings to restore proposed cuts to state-funded preschool.Schools hiring fewer nurses, librarians
California is issuing fewer credentials for public school service positions such as librarians, school nurses and administrators, and its schools are employing fewer service staff, according to a recent report by the state Commission on Teacher Credentialing.Lawsuit takes aim at California's legal protections for teachers
A Bay Area nonprofit targets teacher tenure rules, seniority protections and the dismissal process. Foes say it wants to weaken public sector unions.School district 'volunteers' oversee shutdown of redevelopment agencies
With billions of dollars at stake, school district representatives charged with overseeing the shutdown of about 400 redevelopment agencies may be underprepared.Analysis: Brown’s school finance reforms opens rift among Democrats, districts
For months, Democratic lawmakers and Gov. Jerry Brown have largely skirted a growing political rift over whether to include the governor’s plan for restructuring school finance as part of the budget negotiations or set it out for a full legislative review under the committee process. Tuesday that confrontation broke clearly into public view.New legislation would defer billions in payments to schools next year
Just days after California’s striking $16 billion budget deficit attracted national attention, lawmakers moved ahead Tuesday on legislation that would protect the state’s cash flow next year by deferring $3.5 billion in payments to schools during the 2012-13 fiscal year.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012