LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District):
LAUSD school board candidate drops out, replaced by her twin
Barbara Torres is sworn into office by Local 99 Treasurer Maggie Johnson Barbara Torres, the president of SEIU 99, one of the most powerful unions in the Los Angeles school district, said today she is stepping aside in the 2015 race for school board in District 5, currently held by school board member Bennett Kayser. Torres said she made her decision after a story in LA School Report revealed tha
Kayser loses one 2015 opponent (Torres) but gains another (Torres)
Barbara Torres is sworn into office by Local 99 Treasurer Maggie Johnson Bennett Kayser, the LA Unified board member for District 5, thought he had challenger next year in SEIU Local 99 President Barbara Torres. That was true until yesterday. Barbara Torres said today she is stepping out of the race. But that doesn’t mean Kayser is without a challenger. As of today, he has a new one: Barbara Torre
Attention District 1 voters: Deadline to register is Monday
This just in from the LA City Clerk’s Office: Monday is the deadline to register for any LA Unified District 1 resident who intens to vote in the June 3 special election. Registrants must be a citizen of the United States, live within the school district, be 18 years old by Election Day and not be in prison or on parole for a felony. Registered voters who have moved or changed their names since th
LAUSD School board candidates are gathering for another forum
School Board Candidates will meet at Holman United Methodist Church They’re baaaaaack. The seven candidates for LA Unified’s open District 1 seat are gathering again tomorrow for another forum to address answer questions and address issues facing the district. Sponsored by community groups and the host site, Holman United Methodist Church, located in south-central LA, the event will honor the 60t
As write-in candidate, ‘Marilyn V’ says she would ‘not be bullied’
Marilyn Veincentotzs Seventh in a series of profiles of candidates for LA Unified’s open District 1 board seat. With less than a month to go before the LA Unified special election to fill the vacant District 1 seat, write-in candidate Marilyn Veincentotzs is taking a tough stand against the status quo that she says isn’t working in LA Unified. Specifically, she blames Superintendent John Deasy fo
McKenna, leading in school board race, won’t commit on Deasy
With three weeks to go before the election, George McKenna, a leading candidate for the LA Unified school board representing south LA, is refusing to clarify whether he supports John Deasy, the district’s current superintendent. McKenna’s unwillingness to provide a clear answer comes at an important time for the school district, the second-largest in the country, as it faces contract negotiations
LAUSD finds a sleeker approach for its website makover
The LA Unified School District got a makeover. Well, not the district. Its website. Samuel C. Gilstrap, a district spokesman, said the idea was to move all the various administrative office sites from a dated, non-integrated collection of platforms onto a one-stop-shopping site that is easier to access and navigate. Two key reasons for the upgrade, he said: One, upgrades will improve the quality o
Mar Vista charter school meets with neighbors to ease tensions
CWC Mar Vista Charter School They came. They ate. They talked. And they came up with a few ideas they say might work. Four people from Citizens of the World Charter School (CWC) and four of its Mar Vista neighbors shared a meal at the school last night and discussed the traffic and parking problems that have angered local residents, causing friction between CWC and its co-located school, Stoner El
Morning Read: LAUSD’s Kids Ocean Day beach cleanup a hit
Thousands turn out for LAUSD’s Kids Ocean Day beach cleanup On its 21st birthday Thursday, Kids Ocean Day came full circle as an alumnus returned to clean up the beach with her class of North Hollywood third-graders. Fair Avenue Elementary School teacher Armine Pogosian was a youngster in 1993 when she attended her first Kids Ocean Day, pitching in to pick up litter on the beach and learning about
MAY 15
Protests, threats, violence driving wedge through a co-location
Citizens of the World Charter School (CWC), a K-2 LA Unified school of 160 students in Mar Vista, is inviting neighbors over for dinner tonight. It’s a gesture intended to show that CWC is a better neighbor than some in the area apparently think. The offer to break bread comes at an unpleasant time for the school, which shares a building with Stoner Elementary, a K-5 school of about 360 students.
LAUSD candidates agree (!) on value of public charters schools
Click to view slideshow. The latest forum for candidates running in a special election to fill the vacant seat in South LA’s District 1 produced unexpected agreement last night on some of the most volatile issues in public education. The four contenders who participated – Alex Johnson, Rachel Johnson, Genethia Hudley-Hayes and George McKenna – saw eye to eye on nearly every core issue involving
Morning Read: CA among worst in the nation in school segregation
California among worst in the nation in school segregation As racial separation in education steadily grows, California now leads the nation in children going to school with their own kind, a UCLA study released Wednesday contends. On the 60th anniversary of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court Brown vs. Board of Education ruling intended to dismantle segregation, the report by UCLA’s Civil Rights Proj
MAY 14
Commentary: Why aren’t we listening to our teachers?
I’m fed up with the inefficiency of the judicial system! I’m going to become a judge. I may not be a lawyer, but I’ve been a law-abiding citizen all my life, I mean, how hard could it be? I have 20 years of business experience in the TV industry. When I blow into the courtroom demanding accountability, I am going to shake things up! Who needs legal experience when you understand the bottom line? W
Board defies district, keeps open 2 charters in Watts
Students rejoice at news to keep open New Designs Center in Watts The Los Angeles Unified school board faced long hours of personal and emotional pleas yesterday on a vast array of issues, including how to spend $837 million in money directed to helping low-income students, children in foster care and English learners. A parade of community members addressing the board at the end, each speaking fo
Editorial: Doubts about teacher evaluations and test scores
Via The Los Angeles Times | By the Editorial Board A new study out of USC and the University of Pennsylvania finds that value-added measurements — a way of using student test scores to evaluate teacher performance — aren’t a very good way of judging teacher quality. This isn’t the first study to cast doubt on what has become a linchpin educational policy of the Obama administration but there’s an
Morning Read: Brown urges 30-year fix for CA teacher pensions
In revised budget, Governor details 30-year plan to fix teacher pensions Gov. Jerry Brown is predicting that the state will take in $2.4 billion more in revenue in 2014-15 than initially estimated, but highly expectant education leaders won’t get a piece of it to implement the Common Core state standards or make a down payment for universal preschool. They can count on the double-digit spending in
MAY 13
City, LAUSD announce an LA-wide summer learning program
Mayor Eric Garcetti and LA Unified Superintendent John Deasy, along with several private groups, today announced new citywide initiative to keep youth engaged in learning this summer, the Los Angeles Summer of Learning. The program provides access to 100 learning opportunities online and in person at LA parks and libraries, LAUSD schools and museums and cultural institutions, such as the Getty Ce
School Board Candidate McFrazier wants focus on students needs
Hattie McFrazier Sixth in a series of profiles of candidates for the LA Unified’s open District 1 board seat. Community and union activist Hattie McFrazier, one of seven candidates on the ballot for LAUSD’s District 1 board seat, has worked in LA Unified for more than 30 years, giving her what she believes is a firm grasp on what District 1 needs. As a result, she has a clear message for Superint
Commentary: LA schools’ health effort should expand
Via the Los Angeles Daily News | By Monica Garcia, Beatriz Maria Solis and Maria Brenes Schools have long served as trusted and safe places for community and families to gather. In addition to being places where parents entrust their children for education, schools have inherent connections to communities as parent centers, polling places, and venues for town halls and other gatherings. The creati
LIVESTREAM coverage of today’s LAUSD school board meeting
Today the Los Angeles Unified School Board tackles a hefty agenda that includes hammering out details of next year’s budget in a meeting that could extend late into the evening. While there’s no vote on the budget until early summer, the board has been hearing from community and labor groups on how to allocate new money from the state. Superintendent John Deasy submitted his version of the budget
Morning Read: LAUSD School taking on spending priorities
LA Schools budget debate: more teachers, custodians, health services The Los Angeles Unified school board is scheduled to discuss Superintendent John Deasy’s 2014-2015 proposed budget at its meeting Tuesday – and it promises hours of debate over long lists of competing wants. Board members commended the superintendent’s $6.8 billion proposal when it was released last month, but are now pushing for
MAY 12
West Adams parents rally for a new charter, and it may pay off
Students and their parents rally for a new charter school Sometimes it takes a rally to get things done. Nearly 200 parents and their children from Bright Star Stella and Bright Star Secondary gathered on Saturday to campaign for a new charter school in West Adams. The families have identified an abandoned facility that they want turned into a new school that would house all of the students under
Where shame is policy: Inside LAUSD’s ‘teacher jail’
Via The Nation | By JoAnn Wypijewski Iris Stevenson hurt no child, seduced no teenager, abused no student at Crenshaw High School in Los Angeles. This is what her supporters say in rallying outrage that this exemplary teacher has languished for months in the gulag of administrative detention known as “teacher jail”: she doesn’t belong there. And she doesn’t. Days before being removed from her mus
In LAT, community groups press LAUSD to help high-need students
More than 40 education and community groups signed a full-page ad that ran in today’s Los Angeles Times, urging the LA Unified school board to provide more support for high needs students in the up-coming budget. The ad appears a day before a board meeting when issues of the budget will be a large part of the conversation. In “An Open Letter to the LAUSD School Board,” the groups who form the coal
Ratliff has a plan for more school custodians but fewer police
Monica Ratliff Anyone attending a recent LA Unified School Board meeting has heard Monica Ratliff talk about “providing a safe and inclusive learning environment for all students” by boosting the district’s custodial staff. Tomorrow she’ll lay out her plan for doing it. Item No. 47 on another loooooong agenda, represents Ratliff’s attempt to hire 108 new full-time custodial employees by cutting th
Morning Read: Trial run of CA’s online exams a bumpy ride
State’s new computerized exam tryout plagued by glitches New state standardized exams, given for the first time on computers this spring, really have been a test. But not always a test of math and English. Students had trouble logging on; then many were logged off, sometimes for inactivity while they read lengthy passages. Some devices froze or didn’t save answers. Slow connections caused students
MAY 09
LAUSD’s Marshall High School wins online decathlon
John Marshall High School LA Unified has claimed a second victory in a major academic competition. Marshall High School won the 2014 U.S. Academic Decathlon Online competition, scoring 39,461 out of a possible 48,000 points. The win follows El Camino Real Charter High School’s victory in the 2014 U.S. Academic Decathlon championship last month. Marshall represented California in the Large Schools
Marshall Tuck: ‘We need fundamental and urgent change’
Marshall Tuck Marshall Tuck, a former charter school executive, is challenging incumbent Tom Torlakson to become California’s next State Superintendent of Public Education. The race includes Lydia Gutierrez, a former teacher who also ran four years ago. The three are on the statewide June 3 primary ballot. We caught up with Tuck at a forum last week, and we interviewed him this week. Here’s what h
Alex Johnson has connections; now he needs the votes
Alex Johnson Fifth in a series of profiles of candidates for LA Unified’s open District 1 board seat. At 33 years old, Alex Johnson is the youngest of eight candidates running for the open LA Unified school board District 1 seat. He has raised the most money of anyone in the field. He has the support of his boss, LA County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas. And his list of endorsements includes an ec
Program to create college-bound culture in east Los Angeles
Via the Los Angeles Times | By Stephen Ceasar An initiative intended to foster a college-going culture in East Los Angeles will grant guaranteed admission to Cal State L.A. to certain students at Garfield High School and East Los Angeles College, officials announced Thursday. The collaborative program, named “GO East LA: A Pathway for College and Career Success,” promises enrollment at Cal State L
Morning Read: New parent panel struggles with LCAP
LA schools’ new parent advisory group grapples with $6.8 billion budget In a Sammy Lee Elementary’s auditorium in Koreatown, 50 parents are combing through the Los Angeles Unified School District’s proposed budget for next year, a 33-page draft of a document called the Local Control Accountability Plan. Inside, bullet points a swath of complex policy outlining the district’s goals, how its spendin