More than two months ago LA Unified Superintendent John Deasy took the stand as the first witness for the plaintiffs in Vergara v California, a lawsuit challenging teacher protections. He testified for three days, laying the foundation of their overall case. Now that the trial has ended, the head of the largest school district in...

The professional hackers were no match for North Hollywood High. The valley school won the Cyberpatriot National Championship over the weekend in National Harbor, MD, defending its precious digital real estate against experienced hackers to outlast a field of 621 teams. The championship, sponsored by the Air Force Association (AFA), is a cyber defense competition that test students’ abilities...

The California Teacher Corps, the statewide organization representing California’s alternative certification programs, today honored Allan Hallis with the 2014 Michael McKibbin Outstanding Educator of the Year Award during its fourth annual conference in Sacramento. “You work really hard in the profession, so it’s nice to have some of that hard work be recognized by colleagues...

Via The Orange County Register | By Lauren Williams A Washington, D.C.-based group that advocates for teaching reforms listed Long Beach as the No. 2 district in the nation with the highest salary for beginning teachers. The National Council on Teacher Quality published a list of the districts with the highest paid starting and end-of-career...

Just two week after The Los Angeles Fund for Public Education (LA Fund) launched a new program, Grants HQ, that puts hundreds of millions of dollars in grant money at the fingertips of more than 30,000 LAUSD educators, the response has been “amazing.” Now, teachers who want to enrich the education of their students, anything...

LA Unified’s El Camino Real Charter won the 35th Annual California Academic Decathlon last week, locking in its 11th state title and a chance to claim a seventh national title at the U.S. Academic Decathlon in Honolulu, April 24-26. Against a steep competition of 565 students from 65 high schools statewide, the nine-member team scored 57,747.3 points of a maximum 65,400, just...

Former head of School, Parent and Family/Community Services, Maria Casillas, is coming out of retirement on Tuesday to serve as LA Unified’s interim Deputy Superintendent of Instruction, a post left vacant by the sudden resignation of Jaime Aquino last year. Casillas, who resigned from the district last June as Chief School and Family/Community Services, was appointed by...

Fresh off a run for UTLA president, where he secured 53 votes to finish eighth among 10 candidates, Kevin Mottus is moving on: He’s now running for US Congress. Mottus is one of 21– count ’em, 21! — lining up to take Henry Waxman’s seat in the 33rd Congressional District, which covers some of LA’s swankiest neighborhoods...

Just over a year ago, I won re-election to the Los Angeles Unified School District board. It was an unlikely victory in what may have been the most expensive school board race in U. S. history. The wealthiest of self-styled reformers – Eli Broad, Reed Hastings, Michael Bloomberg and Michelle Rhee’s followers – put in over $4-million...