LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District):
Tutoring center busted for scamming millions in fed dollars
A tutoring company billing itself as “The trusted name for specialized tutoring” may not be so trustworthy after all. Unless, that specialty is in defrauding the federal government. The Academic Advantage, whose website is endorsed by The Governator himself — Arnold Schwarzenegger – and former LA Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines, was busted scamming millions from federal supplemental-educatio
LA Unified district 1 candidate forum scheduled for 6 tomorrow
Candidates for LA Unified’s open District 1 board seat are gathering again tomorrow for a community forum at the West Adams Church of Christ, 4959 W. Adams Blvd. So far, said one of the organizers, Rashad Trapp-Rucker six of the candidates have committed to participate — all but Alex Johnson — with a moderator kicking things off at 6 p.m. with a series of questions about Common Core, Local Contro
Morning Read: Insurance costs boosted superintendent pay
Insurance premium subsidy boosted superintendent’s pay to $772,457 An embattled South Bay school district leader, under investigation for his high compensation, now has a new issue to deal with: insurance premiums that should have been counted as taxable income, but were not. The Centinela Valley Union High School District is being investigated by federal and state authorities for paying Supt. Jos
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Vision to Learn helping students with eye exams and glasses
How can students excel in the classroom — much less learn — if they can’t see what their teachers are writing on the whiteboard? It’s a problem that afflicts approximately 15 percent of elementary school students in the Los Angeles Unified School District. But one organization is working toward a solution. Today, Vision to Learn, a local nonprofit created by the Beutner Family Foundation, is partn
Effort underway to eliminate CA schools’ English-only law
Senator Ricardo Lara Since the late 1990s the debate over bilingual education in California has been, ¿como se dice . . . controversial? And it seems it’s an issue voters will be taking up again soon. State Senator Ricardo Lara of Bell Gardens, has proposed new legislation to overturn Proposition 227, a 1998 initiative that banned bilingual education in public schools. “English will always remain
Charters win $1.5 million in grants to improve kids’ health
Via KPCC | By Adolfo Guzman-Lopez Sixteen California charter schools have been awarded more than $1.5 million from the U.S. Department of Education to improve the health of school-age kids. The biggest local winner, 4,000-student ICEF charter school group, said it’ll use its $845,000 grant to give students more nutrition education during the school day and integrate academics with physical educati
Report: Brown decision at 60, what have we learned?
Via Economic Policy Institute | By Richard Rothstein May 17 is the 60th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 decision that prohibited Southern states from segregating schools by race. The Brown decision annihilated the “separate but equal” rule, previously sanctioned by the Supreme Court in 1896, that permitted states and school districts to designate some scho
Morning Read: FBI investigating superintendent’s salary
Top Centinela official says FBI probing superintendent’s high salary A top Centinela schools official on Tuesday said the FBI has contacted the district regarding the high salary of Supt. Jose Fernandez, who was paid $674,559 last year. The official, newly elevated school board President Hugo M. Rojas, said he is prepared to cooperate fully with both the FBI and the Los Angeles County district att
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A plan to add more meaning to CA computer science class
Sen. Alex Padilla, sponsor of computer science bill Few students would likely take advanced computer science just for fun, even though the course is considered an elective in nearly all California high schools. But a new bill, SB 1200, from State Senator Alex Padilla of Pacoima, would change that, developing guidelines for the course to count toward graduation by fulfilling a math requirement. And
Commentary: Best gift of more money is gift of more time
Under the new Local Control Funding Formula, LA Unified schools in underserved communities will be given $837 million to meet the needs of students in poverty, English learners and children in foster care. It’s not yet clear exactly how that money will be allocated, and it’s still less than what we’ve thrown at iPads. But it’s desperately needed. As a teacher who worked in a high-poverty high scho
Parent panels now reviewing LA Unified’s next spending plan
Parents involved in setting spending priorities for LA Unified have a lot of homework to do over the next two weeks. Members of the Parent Advisory Committee and the District English Learner Advisory Committee have been instructed to “take home and live with” Superintendent John Deasy’s proposed Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) before providing feedback in time for the school board to
Morning Read: Governor backs new CA teacher dismissal bill
New teacher dismissal bill deal has Governor’s support Asm. Joan Buchanan (D-Alamo) says she’s brought the California Teachers Association and the school reform group EdVoice together on an issue that’s split the education community for years: How to allow districts to quickly fire teachers accused of sexual abuse, child abuse or serious drug crimes. Capital Public Radio Centinela appoints interi
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Just in: LA Board Office of Ed OKs Aspire renewals
Aspire Antonio Maria Lugo Academy The LA County Board of Education today reversed a decision by the LA Unified school board by voting to approve the renewal of two Aspire charter schools. “We are delighted in the vote of confidence by the LA County Office of Education,” said Aspire Public Schools CEO James Willcox. By renewing our charters for Aspire Ollin University Preparatory Academy and Aspire
Too late to apply to LAUSD magnet schools? Try this instead
Think your child may be gifted but missed the magnet application window last fall? Now’s a chance for LAUSD parents to act: the SAS program, which stands for “Schools for Advanced Studies,” is accepting applications until April 30. SAS programs are, in essence, gifted programs that reside within a traditional school. Offered at dozens of schools district-wide (see list here), they are considered a
LA County Board of Education deciding fate of 2 Aspire charters
Aspire Antonio Maria Lugo Academy The LA County Board of Education is set to vote later today on whether to allow two top-performing charter schools to remain open. The appeal was filed in February after two Aspire public charter schools in southeast Los Angeles — Aspire Antonio Maria Lugo Academy and Aspire Ollin University Preparatory Academy — were denied renewals by the LAUSD Board. The denial
LAUSD gets a new ‘index’ to help schools where needs are highest
A coalition of education advocates and community groups has developed a new tool, a “student needs index,” and offering it to LA Unified to help identify high-need schools as the district refines its next annual budget. Created by the Community Coalition, Advancement Project and InnerCity Struggle, the index uses environmental, social and academic factors that affect student learning to provide th
Morning Read: Settlements to help LAUSD homeless, pending
Settlements pending for Los Angeles schools, homeless Pro bono organization Public Counsel has inked two class action settlements that would reinstitute funds to struggling schools and homeless residents in the Los Angeles area affected by California’s budget crisis. Under one tentative settlement, reached April 3, Los Angeles Unified School District would allocate $60 million in funding over thre
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Caputo-Pearl: Fletcher made right decision, stepping aside
Warren Fletcher Alex Caputo-Pearl, the presumptive next president of UTLA, said today that current president Warren Fletcher made the right decision by expressing a willingness to step aside in the race to lead the second largest teachers union in the nation. “We look forward to the opportunity to expand the base of support behind an approach where UTLA leads the fight for quality schools and res
SEIU 99 decides not to endorse a candidate for District 1 board seat
SEIU Local 99, the service employees union, which represents more than 30,000 cafeteria workers, custodians, bus drivers, special education assistants and other school support staff at LAUSD, has decided not to endorse a candidate for the district’s vacant District 1 Board seat. The local is the largest labor unit within LA Unified that chose not to get behind any of the seven candidates in the Ju
UTLA unsure of financial support for teachers in board race
Winning endorsement is one thing. Winning financial support is quite another. UTLA, the teachers union, has endorsed three candidates in the June 3 special election to fill LA Unified’s District 1 board seat, all three with ties to the union: Rachel Johnson and Sherlett Hendy-Newbill are teachers, and Hattie McFrazier is a former teacher. The head of UTLA’s political action committee, PACE, said t
Morning Read: Bus crash investigations moves to LA
Deadly bus crash: Bulk of investigation shifts to Los Angeles The investigation into what caused a FedEx freight truck to cross a median and slam into a charter bus in Northern California, killing 10 people, is shifting to Los Angeles. On the itinerary for investigators: meeting with Silverado Stages, the company that owned and operated the bus involved in the collision, and interviewing student s
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L.A. teachers union president ready to step aside for challenger
Via the Los Angeles Times | By Howard Blume Los Angeles teachers’ union president Warren Fletcher said he will no longer actively campaign for reelection, clearing the path for challenger Alex Caputo-Pearl to become the next leader of United Teachers Los Angeles. In the first round of voting in March, Caputo-Pearl received 48% of the votes and Fletcher 21%. The runoff election takes place this mo