Friday, September 6, 2013
A legislator’s second attempt to change disciplinary practices in California schools, making it harder for administrators to expel and suspend disruptive students and eliminating the subjective category of “willful defiance” that accounts for nearly half of student suspensions statewide, has been postponed in order to hash out any remaining disagreements over the legislation.
With chronic absenteeism costing California school districts millions and putting huge numbers of students at academic risk, schools from Willits to Los Angeles and beyond are working harder than ever to address the root causes of absenteeism, including student health, family distress and how connected students feel to adults at school.
A kindergartner was missing for an hour from a Palm Desert school on Tuesday, and the school has revised its procedure for ensuring the right students board the right buses. The Desert Sands Unified School District is also investigating the incident to determine exactly what happened.
As an architect of the STAR, the state test now used to measure academic progress, Doug McRae insists he has a dog in this fight.
State lawmakers are poised to OK legislation that would eliminate California's annual Standardized Testing and Reporting program, even though some districts fear the change would throw a wrench in accountability to the federal government.
California students and teachers are set to receive a one-year reprieve from standardized testing requirements that have become a routine part of school culture each spring. A plan introduced Wednesday in the state Legislature would end the use of STAR tests in math and English for the school year already under way – a year earlier than planned.
The Sacramento City Unified School District has gone to court to uphold the firing of a veteran McClatchy High School teacher who got in a fight with a student during a physical education class.
San Diego Unified will expunge the records of 31 Scripps Ranch High School students who were suspended and charged with sexual harassment for their role in the now-infamous twerking dance video that was posted on YouTube in March.
In another major step toward revamping the way California evaluates students, top education officials announced their intention to suspend the Standardized Testing and Reporting System beginning this year. While LBUSD offers subsidized preschool at 20 local sites for families that would otherwise be unable to afford early education, the program at Tincher offers parents of means the chance to send their kids to a preschool where the academic curriculum matches up with the district's elementary curriculum.
In a major shift in how California's 6.2 million public school students are taught and tested, state officials plan to drop the standardized exams used since 1999 and replace them with a computerized system next spring.
The teachers union filed unfair labor practice complaints Thursday against Los Angeles Unified, claiming the district improperly reassigned 12 teachers from their posts at two schools because of their union activity on campus.
School district officials took few documented steps to protect students in their care despite warning signs that a popular coach and custodian at a Peninsula middle school had a sexual interest in female students, a review of personnel records shows.
Newly hired Mt. Diablo schools Superintendent Nellie Meyer is taking over a district rocked by the ouster of the superintendent and general counsel and turnover of board leadership. Meyer sat down for an interview after her unanimous appointment last week to talk about the challenges ahead. Following is an excerpt of that discussion.
A dozen employees in four of the region's most financially strapped school districts have been charged with helping steal thousands of textbooks for a book buyer, and in some cases the titles would be sold back to the same schools.
The Los Angeles teachers union has ramped up the battle over displaced teachers at Crenshaw High and another campus, accusing the district of removing instructors because they engaged in union activity that is protected by law.
L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy has withdrawn his endorsement of legislation that would speed up the overhaul of the state standardized testing system. The current plan, he said, imposes unfair cost burdens on school systems, especially those that serve low-income, minority students.
Thursday, September 5, 2013
Schools all over the state are seeking an accurate count of this school year's impoverished, foster and English learner students now that a new state funding formula allocates extra money for educating them.
After a heated discussion, the Conejo Valley Unified Board of Education approved the layoff of two part-time employees who provided family services at two Neighborhood for Learning preschool sites.
Angry community members attended a Sonora Union High School District Board of Trustees meeting Tuesday to question the district's use of more than $4 million in bond measure money for a new pool and athletic facilities.
