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Oscar or no, LA schools’ ‘Last Repair Shop’ at center of nominated documentary has already won big
Even if they don’t win an Oscar, they’ve already won a makeover. Surrounded by blocks of choking Los Angeles traffic, homeless encampments and garbage, a windowless warehouse encircled by a security fence is the unlikely setting for “The Last Repair Shop,” an inspiring documentary now up for an Academy Award on March 10. “You don’t...
By Ben Chapman | March 7, 2024
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The nation’s biggest charter school system is under fire in Los Angeles
The nation’s largest experiment with charter schools is no longer growing. These days, Los Angeles charter leaders say their schools are just trying to survive. With tough, new policies, falling enrollment, and a hostile district school board, the decades-old charter school sector in Los Angeles has never faced headwinds so stiff, operators say. Los Angeles,...
By Ben Chapman | February 21, 2024
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New LAUSD policy barring city’s charter schools from hundreds of public school buildings could lead to evictions
Charter schools will be barred from hundreds of Los Angeles Unified District school campuses under a new policy that is among the most restrictive of its kind. The new rules, presented at a school board meeting Tuesday, prevent charters from being sited in campuses that have been identified as serving vulnerable students, accounting for roughly...
By Ben Chapman | January 31, 2024
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Carvalho: ‘Not out of the woods yet’ — LAUSD enacts targeted freeze as federal aid expires
Los Angeles Unified has enacted a targeted hiring freeze and is considering closing or consolidating schools as it faces the loss of federal pandemic aid and declining enrollment, superintendent Alberto Carvalho said in an interview last week. Carvalho, who nearly two years ago assumed leadership of the nation’s second largest school district, said LAUSD is...
By Ben Chapman | December 12, 2023
Schools After COVID: 6 Ways For Districts to Better Engage Parents Amid Concerns About COVID Learning Loss
74 Interview: Why Social Media is Being Blamed for the Youth Suicide Crisis
Thousands of Schools at Risk of Closing Due to Enrollment Loss
Free New AI Tool to Help Americans Search and Compare Student Test Scores Across All 50 States
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The fight over charters in LAUSD school buildings: What’s really happening
Los Angeles charter school operator Alfredo Rubalcava can’t sleep at night. Like other educators in Los Angeles, the CEO of Magnolia Public Schools is awaiting the unveiling of a new policy limiting the use of nearly half the city’s school buildings by independently run charter schools. But with LAUSD superintendent Alberto Carvalho on the verge...
By Ben Chapman | November 13, 2023