LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District):
Follow the money: last filing deadline today for LAUSD election
Tonight is the final disclosure deadline for candidates running in the June 3 special election, to fill LA Unified’s District 1 board seat. “There should be updated numbers by midnight from all the candidates,” said a staff member at the City Ethics Commission. Most candidates are filing their required disclosure forms online, which will be available on the Ethics website, here. One candidate, Oma
Only Alex Johnson gets PAC money in school board race
Alex Johnson With the the LA Unified school board special election only four days away, Alex Johnson is the only candidate of seven whose campaign is supported by independent expenditure committees, also known as super-PACS. So far, groups are spending more than $52,000 to get him elected, according to the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission. These groups operate separately and are not coordinated
Analysis: How to avoid a school board runoff in 4 easy steps
With seven candidates vying for the vacant LAUSD school board seat in South LA, what would it take to pull ahead of the pack and head off a costly stand-alone runoff? Coinciding with the California statewide primary on June 3, the special election was called to fill the District 1 board seat, left vacant by death last year of longtime member Marguerite LaMotte. We asked Democratic strategist Bill
Kennedy High principal evoking strong feelings, good and bad
Suzanne Blake, Principal of Kennedy High School Teachers at John Kennedy High School in Granada Hills are speaking out against the principal, Suzanne Blake, over what they perceive as an autocratic management style that fractures faculty unity. While Blake has supporters among Kennedy’s 90-plus teachers and staff, the willingness of some teachers to complain suggests that she remains a polarizing
Zimmer: LAUSD ‘culture war’ over co-locations on the west side
Steve Zimmer LAUSD Board Meeting As lawyers figure out where Citizens of the World Mar Vista decides will call home in the 2014-2015 school year, LA Unified board member Steve Zimmer says the charter is likely to encounter the same friction it endured as a co-located school this year at Stoner Elementary if it remains on LA’s west side. “It’s not that it has much to do with CWC specifically,” Zim
Gap in instructional time for CA minority students spurs a lawsuit
Via Los Angeles Times | By Steven Ceasar The state Education Department has ignored its obligation to ensure that all California students receive a minimum level of instructional time, predominantly affecting minorities from low-income families, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday. The lawsuit, filed in Alameda County Superior Court by the American Civil Liberties Union, Public Counsel and othe
Morning Read: Can new LAUSD board member create change?
South LA to elect a school board member; Can a new face help? South Los Angles residents will vote Tuesday on a new school board member – but their decision will affect students all over the district. A slate of seven candidates are vying for District One – which became vacant last year when Marguerite LaMotte died in the middle of her term. It’s home to the poorest performing schools in Los Angel
MAY 29
CWC charter tells LAUSD it wants to stay at Stoner Elementary
CWC Mar Vista Charter School Citizens of the World Mar Vista (CWC) wants to remain a citizen at Stoner Avenue Elementary School in Del Rey next year despite months of bitter fighting between parents of students at the two schools. In a letter sent to LA Unified officials today, CWC denies it missed the district’s deadline to respond to the offer to stay and expand as a co-located school on the Del
Hudley-Hayes’ edge: no other candidate served on school board
Genethia Hudley-Hayes This is the final profile of candidates running for LA Unified’s vacant District 1 board seat. The election is scheduled for June 3, with a possible runoff in August. Genethia Hudley-Hayes is the only candidate who declined to be interviewed for the series. Numerous attempts to reach her and her campaign failed to get a response. Genethia Hudley-Hayes has one thing none of
Letter to the editor: McKenna responds to our coverage
Editors Note: This letter from George McKenna, candidate for school board in District 1, is in response to an article published on May 16, entitled, “McKenna, leading in school board race, won’t commit on Deasy.” LA School Report stands by our reporting, as well as the accuracy of the excerpted transcript of a taped interview conducted with McKenna after a candidate forum. May 27, 2014 Ms. Jamie
Hendy-Newbill gets a boost with endorsement from Ravitch
Sherlett Hendy-Newbill While UTLA, the Los Angeles teachers union, has endorsed three candidates in next week’s District 1 school board race, one has emerged as first among equals. Sherlett Hendy-Newbill has won the endorsement of the Network for Public Education, a public education advocacy group led by Diane Ravitch, one of the strongest voices in the country opposed to standardized testing and
Morning Read: School construction bond going to voters
$9 billion school construction bond moves toward November ballot Appropriations Committee has finally put a dollar figure to a school construction bond measure that it wants to place on the November ballot: $9 billion. Voter approval to issue new 30-year construction bonds would be the first state financing for facilities for K-12 schools and higher education since voters passed a $10.4 billion sc
MAY 28
Racial tensions at Markham Middle School reach Congress
Janice Hahn The racial tensions at Markham Middle School in Watts have now reached the United States Congress. In a letter to Superintendent John Deasy sent late last week, Congresswoman Janice Hahn writes she was alerted of the conflict between the school administration and parents who feel “that African American students are treated unfairly by being sent home for issues that do not require susp
LA Unified facing initial $35 million cost for teacher pensions
Gov Jerry Brown Just when members of the Los Angeles teachers union, UTLA, thought brighter economic times for California would translate to higher salaries after seven years without a contract, the state threw them a curveball. In recent weeks, Gov. Jerry Brown and the legislature have begun debating over how to pay down teacher pension debt, which has reached $74 billion. They have devised a for
Commentary: What I learned in school this year
With this essay, Ellie Herman concludes her year in the classroom — and sharing her observations and insights with LA School Report. This year, I had the remarkable experience of taking the academic year off to visit high schools across the socioeconomic spectrum in L.A. in an attempt to understand better what we mean when we talk about education. As the school year ends, here are the five bigges
Tokofsky leaves principals union to join lobbying firm
David Tokofsky David Tokofsky, a former LA Unified school board member and more recently a strategist for the school administrators union, has joined Englander, Knabe & Allen, a lobbying and public relations firm. He is expected to help grow the firm’s education practice. After teaching 12 years at John Marshall High School, Tokofsky served on the district school board for more than a decade.
VIDEO: End of teacher ‘jail’ policy at LAUSD
Kim Baldonado reports for NBC4 News on a shift in policy at LA Unified (LAUSD) where teachers accused of misconduct will no longer spend days at district offices while awaiting review of allegations.
LA Unified Honors 22 as district Teachers of the Year
Los Angeles Unified has named 22 educators as a Teacher of the Year for 2013-2014, and they will be honored at an event in September. Here’s the list: Angeles Cajayon, Bryson Avenue Magnet Elementary School, a second-grade teacher there for 12 years. Maricar J. Fortuno Catalán, Dr. Julian Nava Learning Academy – Business and Technology, is completing her first year as a seventh-grade life science/
Morning Read: Election groups heap $20 million into ads
Groups pour $20 million into TV, print ads for CA primary As the June 3 primary election draws near, business interests, labor groups, environmentalists and wealthy individuals have poured more than $20 million into television and radio commercials, mail ads and other campaign aid for their preferred candidates in campaigns for state offices. The vast sums are partly a reflection of California’s p
MAY 27
By missing deadline, CWC charter sent looking for new home
Horace Mann Middle School While officials of Citizens of the World Mar Vista said last week they were blindsided to learn they would not be returning to their shared campus at Stoner Avenue Elementary, LA Unified said today CWC was notified nearly a month earlier that it could remain at the site if the school wanted to stay. It was CWC’s failure to reply by a May 1 deadline, seeking clarification
JUST IN: LAUSD offers teachers 2 percent raise, union insulted
LA Unified has opened contract negotiations with the teachers union, UTLA, offering a 2 percent raise for all teachers for the current school year, and another 2 percent increase next year. That’s it. The union immediately dismissed the offer in a news release, calling it “far short of what educators deserve after seven years without a pay raise and unabated increases in the cost of living.” “Earl
LIVESTREAM: LAUSD school board committee on curriculum
Today the Los Angeles Unified School Board committee on Curriculum Instruction and Assessment meets, chaired by school board member Monica Ratliff. Among other things on the agenda: A-G requirements and Common Core English standards. To catch the meetings live, check out our dedicated LIVESTREAM which brings you the board’s public proceedings as they happen.
Teachers union approves online voting by overwhelming majority
With an overwhelming majority, members of the Los Angeles teachers union (UTLA) have approved an online voting ballot initiative that will change how the Los Angeles teachers union elects its own leadership. The initiative was launched last year by two teachers who were fed up with the low turnout among the union’s rank and file. “Not enough voices are being heard from our dues paying members,” Me
Morning Read: Battle for CA’s Ed Chief position heats up
Contentious battle brews for California’s K-12 chief The two leading candidates for California’s top K-12 spot in the June 3 primary both identify as Democrats in a technically non-partisan race. But the campaign between incumbent Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson and challenger Marshall Tuck has each camp slamming the other’s candidate as a creature of competing education power b
MAY 23
Stoner parents win, LAUSD removes co-located charter
CWC Mar Vista Charter School Parents of students at Stoner Elementary School, who have been fighting to get the co-located Citizens of the World Charter School Mar Vista (CWC) off their campus, have succeeded in their quest. A letter from LA Unified has informed them the charter “will not be co-locating” on the campus next year, a decision that effectively ends CWC’s presence at the Del Rey campu
LAUSD miscalculated plan for affordable housing for teachers
Sage Park Affordable Housing Six years ago the LA Unified School Board approved a program to build affordable “workforce housing” for teachers to live closer to schools where they work. But now, with one project nearing completion and two others in the planning stages, the district concedes that it has absolutely no control over who gets to live there, defeating the purpose of the project. “Legall
Johnson extends fundraising lead in bid for school board seat
Alex Johnson Alex Johnson has opened what is likely an insurmountable fund raising lead over the six other candidates running for the open LA Unified school board. With the June 3 special election just 11 days away, he has raised $208,625 through the reporting period that ended last Saturday, according to the LA City Ethics Commission. It’s nearly twice the $105,090 that the next closest candidate
Morning Read: In race for school chief, money is close
Top candidates for state schools chief in close money race The top contenders to be the state’s public schools chief are neck-and-neck in campaign funds leading into the June primary, according to finance reports filed Thursday. Current state superintendent Tom Torlakson has just under $200,000 in the bank for the final stretch of the campaign. Torlakson, a Democrat who is running for his second t