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Morning Read: Mixed Reactions Follow Board Elections
Victorious LAUSD Incumbent Vows to Keep Challenging Deasy Having presented the Los Angeles School Board election races as a referendum on Superintendent John Deasy’s future, the club of six- and seven-figure donors in Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s Coalition for School Reform may have succeeded in making Deasy’s life more complicated. EdSource See also: LA Daily News,...
By Samantha Oltman | March 7, 2013
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Commentary: Why Zimmer *Really* Switched Sides
This is a guest commentary from Unai Montes-Irueste, a former classroom teacher who spent much of last year blogging for Leadership for Educational Equity, the political recruitment spinoff of Teach For America, and is now a contributor to Politic365.com: A school board race in the second largest public education system in the nation has become the...
By Unai Montes-Irueste | February 21, 2013
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National Reform Group Picks Up Johnson
The independent TFA spinoff known as Leadership for Educational Equity (LEE) has been quietly staffing up the past few months, including not only Joy SIlvern, former staffer to US Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Obama for America policy person but also communications guru Michael Amodeo (another veteran of the Obama campaign) and former TFA LA executive...
By Alexander Russo | January 17, 2013
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Zimmer Ignores Reform “Orthodoxy”
A new article in The American Prospect magazine traces Teach For America’s efforts to support its former teachers who want to run for public office (and who generally adhere to a common set of education priorities including charter schools, teacher effectiveness, test-based school accountability. The article includes a link to LA School Report’s recent interview with LAUSD board...
By LA School Report | October 26, 2012
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Morning Read: Reform Takes Different Path In LA
Lessons From Los Angeles Unlike New York City–where philanthropic funding supported a top-down approach to reform, a fairly similar set of reform ideas (school level autonomy, choice, and accountability) have spread more slowly and organically in Los Angeles. Education Week (commentary) Education Prize Eludes Corona-Norco District The Corona-Norco Unified School District is a finalist for...
By Hillel Aron | October 24, 2012
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Zimmer: Charters & Fundraising Update
On Friday, LAUSD Board Member Steve Zimmer told LA School Report that his charter school oversight proposal would be revised and reintroduced yet again at the next Board meeting on November 13 in a version that is “a better representation of what my overall purpose is.” As described, the latest version is nonbinding and asks charter...
By Hillel Aron | October 22, 2012
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Washington Post Features LA School Report
The Washington Post’s national education blog, which is called The Answer Sheet, recently highlighted our recent interview with Board member Steve Zimmer (Ex-Teach For America member changes his mind).
By LA School Report | October 12, 2012
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Don’t Forget The “Teacher” Trigger
You might be surprised to find out that “Won’t Back Down” — a screening of which I snuck into the other night — isn’t actually the fictionalized story of Desert Trails, site of the real-life still-unfolding parent trigger attempt outside of Los Angeles, or the CA parent trigger law that allows parents to vote to...
By Alexander Russo | September 14, 2012
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Johnson Not Running – Who Will?
The latest news is that Brian Johnson, the former Teach For America (TFA) Los Angeles executive director who ran for and lost a close race for state assembly (right), isn’t going to run for the LAUSD school board. This spring there are three spots coming open on the board — including another TFA alumnus, Steve Zimmer. The...
By Alexander Russo | September 12, 2012
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Stuck in the Middle: Steve Zimmer
The first thing I notice when stepping into the office of Steve Zimmer, the 42 year-old LAUSD school board member, is the Cesar Chavez poster on the wall — a copy of which Deasy has, too. The second thing is the expansive view from the 24th floor of LAUSD’s massive hilltop headquarters looking out over...
By Hillel Aron | September 4, 2012