LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District):
Candidates for open District 1 seat to join forum on Monday
Residents of LA Unified District 1 will have an early look at some of the candidates for the open board seat on Monday, when Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, at 4269 S Figueroa St., holds its weekly conference for area ministers. A candidates’ forum is scheduled as an opportunity for the ministers and members of the public to meet the candidates and ask questions. All 13 candidates have been invited to
LA Unified teachers union race gets national attention
While LA School Report has been paying close attention to the elections taking place at UTLA, the nations second largest teachers union, the competition hasn’t attracted much outside attention – that is until recently. Now, education blogger, Anthony Cody at Edweek-Teacher, has launched a series of Question-and-Answers with the 10 candidates vying for union president, each being asked the same que
Morning Read: LAUSD says it needs billions for school repairs
Billions would be needed to repair L.A. schools, officials say Maintaining Los Angeles Unified campuses will be difficult because of staffing and funding shortages combined with repair backlogs, aging buildings and more than 100 new schools, officials said Thursday. LA Times LA teachers can only afford 8.7 percent of LA houses A new real estate study out from listing site Redfin shows that only 8
FEB 27
Rally to keep LA Unified school open despite fewer students
Another LA Unified school is under threat of closing. The Academy of Environmental and Social Policy (ESP) is hosting a Back to School/Save our School event tonight to help fend off efforts to shut it down or relocate it because of shrinking enrollment, As one of the district’s Partnership for Los Angeles schools, it is affiliated with Roosevelt High School in Boyle Heights, on the campus of the E
Former LAUSD chief: bonds weren’t meant for iPads
Via KPCC | By Annie Gilbertson William Johnston, who was superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District during the 1970s, is urging officials to stop using bond funds to buy iPads – leading an oversight committee to take up the issue Thursday. “I believe the current purchase of iPads with school bonds is illegal,” Johnston said in a letter addressed to the chairman of the district’s bon
LA Unified getting $6.8 million in latest round of Prop 39 funds
LA Unified, the second-largest school district in the country, is getting the largest amount of any school district in California in the latest round of funds from Prop 39, the 2012 California Clean Energy Jobs Act. The measure makes changes to corporate income taxes, providing $550 million annually for five fiscal years beginning with the 2013-14 fiscal year for job creation initiatives. The reci
Misunderstood election rules upsetting UTLA candidates
Alex Caputo-Pearl Recent campaign appearances by Alex Caputo-Pearl at schools around LA Unified have ignited a dispute among candidates for UTLA offices who say election rules — such as they are – are being applied unfairly. The conflict has also brought into focus how misunderstood the rules seem to be. The source of the infighting is what some candidates perceive as their right to campaign at s
Morning Read: A new attempt at a CA teacher dismissal bill
State lawmaker makes new bid to change teacher dismissal rules A state lawmaker introduced a bill Wednesday that would attempt to streamline the process for dismissing California teachers accused of misconduct. The proposed bill by state Sen. Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana) also would strive to make the dismissal process less expensive. Recent attempts to change rules have wilted under opposition from te
FEB 26
Vergara plaintiffs file response, arguing to keep the trial going
Judge Rolf Treu, L.A. Superior Court Plaintiffs today in Vergara v. California, a case challenging state teacher laws, submitted their opposition to the defendants’ motion for judgment, which was filed with the California Superior Court last week. Defendants are asking the court to throw out the case for a lack of evidence. The plaintiffs’ response emphasizes the “compelling and overwhelming evide
LA Unified moves closer to filling parent advisory panel
LA Unified took another step today toward completing the roster of parents who will serve on an advisory panel charged with helping set spending goals for new state money coming into the district through the Local Control Funding Formula. In recent days, meetings of parents and guardians at the district’s five Educational Service Center areas have produced two representatives of low-income familie
UTLA takes demands for raises and hiring to parents
The teachers union is taking its demands to the school yard. On Feb. 28, United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) is staging a coordinated leafleting campaign, directed at parents during drop-off, to fight for more pay and increased hiring. Dubbed, “Time for Kids” the campaign is set to take place before the first bell on Friday. “We are taking our fight for an overdue raise, smaller class sizes and ful
Morning Read: LAUSD music instruction to be cut in half
Teachers: LA schools’ arts budget ‘a step in the wrong direction’ A plan by the Los Angeles Unified School District to cut the time elementary school children are taught orchestra in half is angering teachers – many of whom learned about it only after KPCC reported on the arts budget, which was released unexpectedly at a committee meeting last week. KPCC Lawmakers seek to streamline financial aid
FEB 25
McKenna: first candidate to file petition for LAUSD board seat
George McKenna George McKenna, a former LA Unified administrator, has become the first of thirteen school board candidates vying in the special election for the District 1 seat to submit a nominating petition. The Los Angeles City Clerk’s office requires at least 500 signatures to qualify for a position on the ballot. The filing period, which began on February 18 ends on March 7. The special elect
Watch now: Livestream coverage of today’s LAUSD committee meeting
The LA Unified school board holds a committee meeting today, chaired by LAUSD trustee Monica Ratliff. Among other items, the Curriculum Instruction and Assessment Committee is set to discuss the new ‘smarter balanced‘ assessments which will be administered this year on computers and tablets, taking the place of traditional standardized tests. 1:00 p.m.: Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment Commi
LAUSD reports increase in charter school co-location approvals
24th Street Elementary, a school recently approved for charter co-location LA Unified has released a preliminary list of charter school co-location proposals, showing that the district is offering more traditional school sites for co-locations for 2014-15 than in either of the previous two school years. According to Lorena Padilla-Melendez, director of Community Relations for LAUSD’s Facilities Se
Analysis: Legal positions in Vergara trial a universe apart
With Vergara v California at the halfway point, and court in recess until next week, it’s a good time to see where things stand and where they might be going, if they’re going anywhere at all. The trial has enormous consequences for the state, and maybe beyond, calling into account five California laws that govern tenure, dismissal and layoffs. The plaintiffs — Elizabeth Vergara and eight other st
Morning Read: Funding poses challenge for English-learners
New funding law puts focus on translation for non-English speakers School districts with high concentrations of English-learner students are facing a new challenge in ensuring that parents who need language translation are informed of their role under the funding formula for schools. California’s new Local Control Funding Formula emphasizes the importance of parental involvement in guiding school
FEB 24
Marshall and others carry on LAUSD’s decathlon tradition
Home of the National Academic Decathlon champions for 8 of the last 10 years, LAUSD is no stranger to success in the annual academic competition for high school students. And neither is this year’s district winner, John Marshall High School. The Los Feliz school will represent LAUSD at the state level in March alongside a handful of other district schools, some for the first time and others with a
Villaraigosa endorses Hudley-Hayes for open board seat
Former Mayor Villaraigosa Former mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has thrown himself into the District 1 special election race by endorsing Genethia Hudley-Hayes, one of 13 candidates running to join the LA Unified School Board. Hudley-Hayes, who served as school board president until she lost her seat to the late Marguerite LaMotte in 2003, released a list of endorsers this morning. The election is sch
You think you know what teachers do, right? Wrong
Via the Washington Post | By Sarah Blaine We all know what teachers do, right? After all, we were all students. Each one of us, each product of public education, we each sat through class after class for thirteen years. We encountered dozens of teachers. We had our kindergarten teachers and our first grade teachers and our fifth grade teachers and our gym teachers and our art teachers and our musi
Morning Read: Budget cuts forcing LAUSD libraries to close
Many L.A. Unified school libraries, lacking staff, are forced to shut In the sun-filled space at the Roy Romer Middle School library, thousands of books invite students to stimulate their curiosity and let their imaginations soar. There is classic “Tom Sawyer” and popular “Harry Potter,” biographies of Warren Buffett and Tony Blair, illustrated books on reptiles and comets. LA Times LAUSD teacher