Kids in schools pretty much everywhere love Hot Cheetos, but LAUSD is the only place I’ve seen so many of those crazy, sticky Takis in the garish purple bag. And now they have their rightful place in this rap anthem to schoolyard snacks. Via Gawker

What a strange and interesting first week back in school it’s been for LAUSD — starting three weeks before Labor Day but still a year that will be five school days shorter than last year. And we’re not even done with it yet. The first day back, Tuesday, the district wanted to focus on the...

Here are some of the reported posts that Hillel Aron has written while we were still in “soft launch” mode the past couple of weeks: Update: API Delayed Until October [yep — October] How Prop. 32 Could Affect LAUSD [Gloria Romero won’t back down- get it?] Charter & District School Alternatives [infographic on 8 different school models in...

California appears to be the only state in the nation that has applied for — but not yet received — a so-called “waiver” from NCLB but doesn’t already have a one-year freeze on NCLB’s ever-escalating proficiency requirements in its back pocket.  That means California schools will be among the only ones in the nation operating under...

Late Friday, California’s 2nd District Court of Appeals voided the settlement on the Reed v. CA lawsuit, which had rewritten how teacher layoffs are conducted at 45 under-performing LAUSD schools. That settlement — result of a lawsuit brought by students in low performing schools who called the practice discriminatory– reversed the so-called ‘last in/first out’ practice, which has traditionally given...

The hyper-cute daughter of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes is going to enroll at Avenues, an entirely new K-12 private (for-profit!) school being opened this fall in the Chelsea neighborhood of NYC (right near the High Line, if you want to impress your friends). All this via the NY Post: Suri Cruise to attend new Chelsea school....

Here’s the cover for Michelle Rhee’s new book, coming out in January. It’s called “RADICAL: Fighting to Put Students First.”  Read a few more details here. Why should you care about Rhee? Her Sacramento-based organization, StudentsFirst, was involved in Ian Calderon’s successful state assembly primary race and Brian Johnson’s unsuccessful one, as well as various...

A call around to some education insiders suggests that the likelihood of parents targeting an LAUSD school for the so-called “parent trigger” aren’t clear — at least in the short term. That hasn’t stopped LAUSD parents from starting parent unions, however — the precursor to a possible trigger.  

Ever wonder just how many TFA (Teach For America) teachers there are in LAUSD?  Sometimes it can seem like they (and their alumni) are everywhere.  Other times, they can be hard to find. Here are the latest numbers, via David Stanley, TFA LA executive director: Last year there were 260 first- and second-year teachers (about...

LAUSD’s social media director, Stephanie Abrams (pictured) has already been the subject of a smattering of news coverage and is featured in next month’s Scholastic Administrator magazine.   In the meantime one of Abrams’ biggest projects, a social media survey of the district, is out, and The Journal has some coverage.  Here’s LAUSD’s Tumblr announcement....