Sharp and independent, Brentwood native Nick Melvoin has served on the LAUSD school board since 2017.  But the attorney and former teacher said he’s never seen anything like this year, where he’s currently helping to guide the nation’s second-largest school system through some rough situations.  That includes federal agents turning up at schools, looking for...

Five years after COVID-19 shut down all the schools in Los Angeles, enrollment declines in the nation’s second largest district are worsening again. Since the pandemic, the Los Angeles Unified School District has lost more than 70,000 students. Enrollment has fallen to 408,083, from a peak of 746,831 in 2002. Losses steepened this year, too,...

Federal agents who were denied entrance to two Los Angeles elementary schools this week were seeking “access” to five young students attending those schools, Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said Thursday.   News of U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents showing up at Lillian Street Elementary School and Russell Elementary School in South Los Angeles’...

The Los Angeles Unified School District is at a critical turning point, with fresh obstacles from both the recent wildfires and changes in federal aid and policies under the Trump administration, a new report argues. The 26-page document, “Looking Ahead as LAUSD Confronts Fire Recovery and Federal Policy Uncertainty,” found those twin events will place...

After another year of dramatic enrollment losses, the Los Angeles Unified school board president is considering the possibility of closing or merging schools. The nation’s second-largest school district now enrolls 408,083 students, according to figures published Jan. 31. In the 2023-24 school year, LAUSD enrolled 419,749 kids; the year before that, 429,349. “I’m kind of...

The nation’s second largest school district isn’t exactly coming roaring back from the pandemic, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, commonly called the nation’s report card. But the Los Angeles Unified School District also isn’t lagging behind either, according to the federal measure of math and reading skills, which, among other things, is...

Firefighters have now contained deadly wildfires that just after the new year devastated whole swaths of Los Angeles. Schools are reopening and, for some families, life is returning to normal.  But the historic blazes, which in January prompted the emergency closure of the nation’s second-largest district and burned some schools completely, made a lasting impression...

As usual, David Tokofsky is annoyed about something at LA Unified. This time it’s the school board, which Tokofsky says is failing to post materials for public meetings online in a timely enough manner. He peppers reporters with unheeded calls for stories on the scandal.  Tokofsky is the guy who shows up at board meetings...

Los Angeles school officials have a message for President-elect Donald Trump about his promised immigration crackdown: we’re ready for you. Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, who came to the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant from Portugal, said this week the nation’s second largest district is preparing for the incoming administration’s planned mass...

The new president of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Board of Education says he wants to fight the district’s cratering enrollment with new policies and approaches. Scott Schmerelson, who has worked in the LA Unified School District for nearly four decades and has served on the board since 2015, was elected and installed as...