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Thursday, August 30, 2012

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Education Headlines

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Police cite Simi bus driver for leaving young girl unattended

A Simi Valley Unified School District bus driver has been cited by police for leaving a 5-year-old special education student alone on a parked bus for more than three hours on the first day of school last week, police said Wednesday.

Stockton USD hires new special-ed chief

Stockton Unified's school board hired a new special-education chief Tuesday night to replace Kelly Dextraze, who is leaving the district for a job in Lincoln Unified.

Judge declines to toss wrongful termination lawsuit against West Covina Unified

Although seemingly prepared to throw out a wrongful-termination lawsuit against West Covina Unified by its former superintendent, a judge Wednesday delayed ruling on the merits of the case.

Baldwin Park to implement furloughs, cancels back-to-school night and parent conferences

Parents in the Baldwin Park Unified School District won't have the opportunity this year to connect with their children's teachers at Back-to-School nights, open houses or parent-teacher conferences. The events have been scrapped as part of a cost-saving contract agreement with teachers.

School districts sue Industry, say city owes more than $100 million

Two local school districts are suing Industry, alleging the city owes them more than $100million in payments dating back decades.

Father presses lawsuit against Sequoia High for kicking son out of honors class for cheating

The father of a Sequoia High School student kicked out of an honors class for cheating isn't dropping his lawsuit against the school district even though a judge ruled in May that his son could not return to the program and that no evidence was presented to suggest the case could be won.

SIA Cabinet Report: Senate backs eliminating BIP mandate; online learning, math adoption move ahead

In a cost-cutting move that has near unanimous opposition from schools, a majority in the state Senate moved Wednesday to back a plan to eliminate most state funding tied to school management behavior issues of special education students.

Cruz: AB 5 locks in approaches to evaluation that have failed families

Blogs have been written, editorials published, and dozens of action alerts sent to hundreds of individuals related to AB 5, the bill introduced by Assemblymember Felipe Fuentes that aims to revamp teacher evaluations. Lost in all this commotion is the voice of families. Although they are the ultimate users of the public school system, their voices are typically lost in a political process that values compromise more than outcomes.

Fensterwald: More amendments coming to AB 5, including sunset clause

With the list of opponents mounting, the author of a bill to rewrite the state’s 40-year-old teacher evaluation law rushed Wednesday to amend the bill for third time to try to get it through Senate committees and on to the floor of the Legislature by the end of the session tomorrow.

Battle under way over California teacher evaluations

Months after a Los Angeles judge ruled that California's largest school district was violating state law by failing to use student test scores in evaluating teachers, lawmakers are scrambling to rewrite the rules.

CalPERS hails Jerry Brown's "sweeping changes" to public pensions

The governing board of the nation's largest public pension system gave positive early reviews to Gov. Jerry Brown's pension deal Wednesday, but said more work needed to be done before they could say how much money the plan would save. The chief actuary for the California Public Employees Retirement System, however, said early estimates indicated the plan would save state and local governments as much as $40-60 billion over the next three decades, but said that was just a rough first estimate.

Bill authorizing schools to teach about 'Braceros' signed into law

Legislation authorizing California's junior high and high schools to teach students about the Bracero guest worker program from decades past was signed into law today by Gov. Jerry Brown. The measure, Senate Bill 993, does not require schools to discuss Braceros, but the bill is a way to raise awareness about the program and could encourage districts to include it in social sciences instruction, according to a legislative committee analysis.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Opt-out form not an option

Citing advice from district lawyers, Tehachapi Unified School District's board did not take a vote Tuesday night to make available a form parents could sign to exclude their children from learning parts of a new and controversial anti-harassment curriculum.

Special ed student left alone on Simi school bus for more than 4 hours

A Simi Valley special education elementary student was left alone on a parked bus for more than four hours on the first day of school last week, school board President Janice DiFatta confirmed Tuesday.

Sonora, Summerville seeking bond $$

Sonora Union High School District students have been going to class in decades-old facilities that could be greatly improved if voters approve a $23 million bond measure in November, according to school administrators. Meanwhile, Summerville Union High School District is attempting to pass its own $8 million initiative — one that would extend Measure Q of 1998 and fund renovations to its most outdated classrooms.