FCMAT » Cali Education Headlines Tuesday, January 21, 2014

FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team:

Mongeau: Common Core standards bring dramatic changes to elementary school math

Education Headlines

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

FCMAT provides links to California K-12 news stories as a service to the industry. However, some stories may not be accessible because of newspapers' subscription policies.

Stockton USD takes shot at keeping kids free of flu and in school

To combat flu illness absences, Stockton Unified has been proactive in offering vaccines at all of its schools.

Bellflower teachers protest for pay raises amid contract negotiations

About 80 teachers from the Bellflower Unified School District lined the blocks in front of the district headquarters on Clark Avenue on Thursday night with signs requesting higher salaries in a silent march before the Board of Education meeting.

LAUSD schools for special-needs students take a more vocational bent

The district is moving toward a model in which all of its 8,000 students with moderate-to-severe disabilities receive some sort of vocational training.

Clovis Unified to hire at least 125 new teachers

After more than a decade of budget cuts and a bout of hiring freezes, Clovis Unified is changing course and planning to recruit several dozen new teachers.

High school hacking probe began months before scandal broke

A cheating scandal at Corona del Mar High School, which surfaced publicly last month, first came to the attention of school officials and the police six months earlier, when a teacher reported that “someone had possibly accessed her computer and altered student's grades,” according to a search warrant for the home of a private tutor suspected in the case.

Hayward truants targeted in business campaign

Decals have begun showing up in store windows throughout the city that warn, "This merchant will report truant students during school hours."

California signals intention to sell former mental institution for schools, parkland

After years of often frustrating negotiations, the state of California has signaled its intention to sell part of the shuttered Agnews Developmental Center for a high school, K-8 school and a park.

El Cerrito: Public speaks out on school funding

About 100 parents, teachers and West Contra Costa district staff had a chance to weigh in Jan. 15 on their spending priorities should a promised windfall from a new state schools funding formula materialize over the next eight years.

L.A. schools' iPad watchdog committee set to disband

The watchdog committee for the Los Angeles school district's $1-billion iPad program is scheduled to fold, raising questions about oversight of the ongoing effort to provide every student, teacher and administrator with a computer.

EdSource: Schools lining up for piece of $250M ‘career pathways’ fund

California schools can expect stiff competition when the state kicks off the application process for a highly anticipated $250 million state fund for college and career readiness programs and partnerships this month.

Mongeau: Common Core standards bring dramatic changes to elementary school math

Teaching elementary school math just got trickier, or at least deeper. The new Common Core State Standards require students to demonstrate a deeper understanding of math concepts, which means teachers will have to change how they teach those concepts too.

Friday, January 17, 2014

California Board of Education passes new school funding rules

The template that school districts must use was approved on an "emergency" basis for the current school year, the first year the formula is in effect. But state board members stressed the regulations are temporary and would be refined to take into account input from speakers who crowded the board room in Sacramento.

Galt teachers union seeks salary increase

Galt Joint Union High School District teachers feel that the governor’s recently released budget will be beneficial at the bargaining table as the Galt Federation of Certificated Employees union is in the midst of stalled negotiations.

Alpine teachers vote to authorize strike

The vote was in response to the district’s decision to impose across-the-board compensation cuts for teachers.

Threats close four Escondido schools

Four charter schools in Escondido will be closed Friday because of a threat against one of the campuses, school officials said Thursday night.

Federal probe in San Ysidro gets serious

The defense attorney for former San Ysidro schools Superintendent Manuel Paul said in court this week that Paul is the subject of an active federal investigation and charges are likely forthcoming.

Santa Clara County school board denies petition for charter school in Morgan Hill

In a blow to Latino parents agitating for change, the Santa Clara County Board of Education has denied a petition to open a charter school in Morgan Hill.

Turlock High lawn equipment replaced after theft

Thieves halted Turlock High School’s turf management work last week, but donors have stepped forward with dollars and used equipment to get the class back on track, Principal Marie Peterson said.