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Outside groups disappointed over LA Unified’s search process
Sure, they can go to any of the community meetings. Sure, they can fill out a survey online. But, ultimately, outside groups say they want a seat at the table when deciding the next LA Unified school superintendent. At a special session after a closed session on Tuesday, the school board voted against a proposal...
By Mike Szymanski | October 29, 2015
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Community groups remain skeptical on LAUSD superintendent search
Some community groups deeply involved with Los Angeles education have raised skepticism over how they will be involved in the search and selection of the next LAUSD school superintendent and whether their views will count for anything. Nearly a dozen groups contacted by LA School Report said they have been unimpressed or uninvolved in efforts...
By Mike Szymanski | October 9, 2015
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Groups pushing ‘need index’ helping LAUSD shape the budget
Among the challenges poor kids in south LA are forced to overcome just to meet the most basic learning conditions in schools, are cockroaches. Not in their classrooms. In their bodies. LA Unified students in neighborhoods like South Gate and Watts regularly visit health clinics to have the insects that crawl inside their ears, plucked...
By Vanessa Romo | June 17, 2014
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Commentary: A plea to pass the ‘Student Need Index’
An open letter to the Los Angeles Unified school board from five district students: Dear board members: We are students who live in South Los Angeles and attend South L.A. High Schools. One of us wakes up early every morning to take two buses to attend Hamilton High School in West L.A. so that she...
By Guest contributor | June 2, 2014
Investigation: Nearly 1,000 Native Children Died in Federal Boarding Schools
Podcast: What a Mentorship Mindset Can Do for Student Motivation
Black and Hispanic Voters Say Democrats Aren’t Focused Enough on K-12 Education
Teen Activist Rhea Maniar on the Power of Abortion to Turn Out Young Voters
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LA Unified students ask Vladovic to use ‘index’ for needs
After weeks of trying, a group of students from Fremont High School finally got a meeting yesterday in the office of LA Unified Board President Richard Vladovic to promote their Special Need Index for use in the board budget negotiations. Vladovic wasn’t there, they were told, but they presented a petition with 4,300 signatures to Chris Torres, his...
By Michael Janofsky | April 30, 2014
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Students to school board: Neediest schools deserve more
A new movement is brewing at Fremont High School, a school with a troubled past that has been at the epicenter of community and educational change many times over the years in south LA. For the past week, students there have been using an old-fashioned organizing tool — a petition drive — to bring a message...
By Aaron Stella | April 28, 2014
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LAUSD gets a new ‘index’ to help schools where needs are highest
A coalition of education advocates and community groups has developed a new tool, a “student needs index,” and offering it to LA Unified to help identify high-need schools as the district refines its next annual budget. Created by the Community Coalition, Advancement Project and InnerCity Struggle, the index uses environmental, social and academic factors that...
By Yana Gracile | April 15, 2014
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Rallies at LAUSD for budget priorities and a student voice
With the LA Unified board meeting tomorrow, two rallies are taking place outside district headquarters that seek support for two different educational issues. Parents, education advocates and civil rights groups, who represent Communities for Los Angeles Student Success, or CLASS, are organizing a “silent protest” on behalf of low-income students, schools and communities by placing...
By Yana Gracile | April 7, 2014