Following a ruckus over the use of the Parent Trigger law at two Los Angeles Unified schools, the board set guidelines Tuesday for to better deal with efforts to handle the takeover and transformation of low-achieving campuses.
The resolution by board member Steve Zimmer requires the district to independently verify the signatures and how they're gathered by Parent Revolution, the group that helps to organize parents in efforts to take over schools. The district will also increase the amount and types of information available, such as an analysis of five years of school data and the types of reforms attempted in the past.
The Parent Empowerment Act allows parents at struggling schools to "trigger" reforms if more than 50 percent of them petition for change.
In efforts at 24th Street and Weigand Avenue Elementary schools, some parents say that Parent Revolution organizers lied to them in order to get their signatures and refused to rescind them when they asked. Parent Revolution's Gabe Rose, meanwhile, said that some district employees had crossed the line in trying block the group's takeover effort.
Zimmer and others acknowledged, however, that there was little they could do because the Parent Trigger is rooted in state law. Ultimately, they amended the resolution to call for a lobbying effort to repeal it
by By Barbara Jones, Staff Writer
The Los Angeles Unified board Tuesday approved a $30 million contract to buy iPads for 30,000 students, the first phase in an ambitious plan to equip every pupil with a computer tablet within the next 14 months.
by By Barbara Jones, Staff Writer
The Los Angeles Unified school board passed a $6.2 billion budget for 2013-14 on Tuesday, the first time in five years that deep cuts and gut-wrenching layoffs haven't been part of the financial plan.
In fall 2007, Danielle Powell enrolled in Grace University in Omaha, Neb., to pursue a degree in psychology. She chose to study at Grace, a Christian college, because her older sister lived in Omaha and she was “offered generous scholarships.” Powell played on the women’s volleyball team and did well in school.
TAMPA Fla.—County school superintendents told the state Board of Education on Tuesday that a recent legislative bill allowing high school students to take as many advanced placement courses as they can handle will cost districts millions of dollars that their budgets can’t support.
