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Lesbian teacher suing LAUSD for $12 million over discrimination
A former LA Unified teacher is suing the district for $12 million, claiming it failed to protect her from abuse, harassment and discrimination because she is a lesbian. Cathy Figel taught physical education at Marina del Rey Middle School for 13 years and claims to have endured anti-gay language, anti-gay graffiti scrawled in her work area; exclusion from...
By Craig Clough | November 13, 2015
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Panel conveys dire warning, LAUSD board seems to get message
An independent Financial Review Panel yesterday detailed drastic measures that LA Unified must take to remain afloat in what school board President Steve Zimmer calls a “perfect storm” of financial trouble for the district. “There’s a fiscal cliff that is immediate if different decisions are not made,” warned Bill Lockyer, the former California attorney general and...
By Mike Szymanski | November 11, 2015
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JUST IN: Judge issues restraining order against Alliance in union battle
* UPDATED A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge issued a temporary restraining order against Alliance College-Ready Public Schools late yesterday, ordering its administration to cease stifling a unionization effort. The LA teachers union, UTLA, is currently attempting to unionize the teachers at the charter school organization, which is LA Unified’s largest with 27 schools and...
By Craig Clough | October 30, 2015
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Labor board seeking injunction over Alliance anti-union efforts
The California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) will be seeking an injunction in Los Angeles County Superior Court to stop what it says is illegal interference by officials at Alliance College-Ready Public Schools against a unionization effort by some of its teachers. The LA teachers union, UTLA, is currently attempting to unionize the teachers at...
By Craig Clough | October 20, 2015
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UTLA, parents angry over class sizes at LAUSD school in Palms
The LA teachers union, UTLA, organized a press conference at at Hamilton High School in Palms yesterday to draw attention to what it says is overcrowding in classrooms at the school. The press conference featured parents, teachers and students. “If we don’t get the quality education that we need to succeed, then we are being set...
By LA School Report | October 20, 2015
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Union leaders, former LAUSD board president attack Broad charter plan
While teachers protested a proposed charter expansion plan outside the LA Unified school board meeting yesterday, union leaders involved with the district and a former board president, spoke out against it inside. On the street, about 100 teachers rallied against the effort by the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation that would more than double the number of...
By Mike Szymanski | October 14, 2015
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Multiple rallies gather early for LAUSD school board meeting
Protestors and supporters of a variety of causes started gathering at 8 a.m. today for the 1 p.m. LA Unified school board meeting, facing intense heat outside and an overcrowded meeting room inside. Among the earliest to appear were 50 people with green shirts and buttons showed up for the Green Dot Public Schools, which...
By Mike Szymanski | October 13, 2015
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Teachers planning to protest charter plan as LAUSD board convenes
As the LA Unified board is holding its monthly meeting tomorrow, the teachers union, UTLA, is planning a sidewalk protest against the Broad Foundation’s plan to expand the number of charter schools in the district. The demonstration follows the release today of a Broad-commissioned poll, showing that a large majority of city residents want more choices...
By Mike Szymanski | October 12, 2015
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Do LA charter schools really screen out special education students?
Accusations that charter schools screen out special education students or discourage them from enrolling have returned with a controversial plan by the Broad Foundation to expand charter enrollment at LA Unified. After the president of the LA teachers union, Alex Caputo-Pearl of UTLA, raised the issue a year ago, telling the Los Angeles Times a year...
By Craig Clough | October 5, 2015
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The ‘reanimation’ of John Deasy, will the next superintendent be a native?
UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl released a 12-minute video on YouTube today in which he asks members to vote for a dues increase. According to Caputo-Pearl, the union has not updated its dues structure since its inception 45 years ago, which now “literally threatens the future of UTLA.” In the video, Caputo-Pearl points out that UTLA’s...
By LA School Report | October 2, 2015