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Wednesday, October 23, 2013

UPDATE: FCMAT » Cali Education Headlines Wednesday, October 23, 2013

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LAUSD protest

SEGREGATING ENGLISH LEARNERS IN SCHOOLS: The Los Angeles Unified School District has little choice in the matter. Yet there is reason for concern.




Education Headlines

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Fillmore school officials hope to stay the course with online offerings

Fillmore Unified School District officials said they are optimistic that newly offered online courses will provide current and prospective students with a unique education that includes classes not offered in traditional classrooms.

Low-income preschoolers hit by cuts

Preschoolers from low-income families in San Joaquin County will spend 32 fewer days in the classroom because of budget cuts enacted by Congress earlier this year that local officials think are here to stay.

Coachella Valley Unified to purchase new iPad Air tablets

Coachella Valley Unified schools will purchase 10,000-13,000 of the new iPad Air tablets that Apple unveiled Tuesday, but the high demand for the device is likely to extend the school district’s iPad roll-out into the second half of the school year.

Fresno Unified, teachers union split on contract talks

Fresno Unified officials issued a news release Tuesday evening, following a negotiation session with the union, saying the Fresno Teachers Association was seeking an unreasonable 9% wage increase plus millions more in health benefits. The district has offered to raise salaries by 2.5% this year and by 2% in each of the following two years.

Lead in dust closes San Clemente High auto shop

Samples of sanding dust from San Clemente High School’s auto shop have tested positive for lead, and one sample taken outside the shop exceeded state thresholds for health risks, a Capistrano Unified School District spokesman said Tuesday.

Sweetwater teachers protest over healthcare benefits

Hundreds of teachers and their family members gathered at the Sweetwater Union High School District administration center Monday before the regular school board meeting to protest what they say is an 11th-hour change in health care benefits just days before open enrollment begins.

Berkeley schools focus on black student discipline issue

Too many African-American students are being suspended from the city's schools here, prompting an accelerated effort to retrain teachers in recognizing cultural differences between mostly white teachers and their black students.

Castro Valley school unions to rally Wednesday

School district union members will rally Wednesday in support of their push for a pay raise. The school district is offering a 3 percent raise; the teachers and school support staff members are asking for 3.75 percent, according to a news release. The two groups have received a raise of 1 percent in the past five years.

Fensterwald: What’s next for standardized testing in California?

Like high school graduates who pause to figure out what to do in life, most standardized tests in California and the Academic Performance Index that measures them are about to take a gap year – or longer – to give the State Board of Education and legislators time to decide what comes next now that the state’s current testing program is ending.

More questions on L.A. Unified's iPad program, but few answers

Los Angeles school district officials acknowledged Tuesday that they understated the cost of providing iPads to students, but also said the deal could ultimately save millions of dollars.

LA Unified School District has no Plan B for iPad project

A school board committee overseeing the Los Angeles Unified School District’s iPad project called into question Tuesday whether the project would continue. And, if not, members asked if there were plans in place for administering new digital state tests without iPads.
Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Upheaval atop Stockton USD police force

Lt. Frank Gordo, a member of the Stockton Unified police department for 18 years, was placed on paid administrative leave last week by interim Chief Eric Holman, the latest upheaval in the department in the past two months.

School merger petitions circulate

A group of Tuolumne County residents will soon circulate petitions seeking support for its proposal to unify the 11 school districts in the county. The committee has worked with County Clerk and Auditor-Controller Debi Bautista and County Superintendent of Schools Joe Silva to develop petitions.

Chino Valley Unified board opposes transgender bill

Chino Valley Unified board members voted 4-1 at its Thursday meeting in favor of a resolution that opposes Assembly Bill 1266, a state law that will require public schools to allow students to use bathrooms and locker rooms based on the gender they identify with and to gender-restricted activities like sports.

Santa Ana dress code change angers some teachers, parents

Efforts by Santa Ana Unified to restore uniformity to a patchwork of inconsistent and occasionally stringent dress code policies across the district is being met with resistance and even anger by teachers and parents at one of the city's top schools.