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Commentary: The reason unions fight in school board races
By Aaron Churchill Electoral politics are front and center as Los Angeles voters prepare to cast their ballots for three school board seats on March 7. Not surprisingly, the races have heated up — and gotten expensive. Independent expenditure committees funded by teachers unions have forked over $1.2 million to support incumbent board President Steve...
By Guest contributor | February 28, 2017
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Commentary: When big money becomes the new normal — contrasting LA’s and Denver’s school board races
By Beth Hawkins At the start of the decade, a survey of elected school board members found a whopping 87 percent spent $5,000 or less on their most recent campaign. Even in larger districts, those with at least 15,000 students, only 10 percent spent $25,000 or more, the National School Boards Association reported. What an...
By Guest contributor | February 27, 2017
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Commentary: DeVos confirmation calls for Angelenos to unite
By Nadia Diaz Funn Betsy DeVos’ narrow confirmation by the Senate as the 11th U.S. Secretary of Education made one thing clear: now more than ever, the entire Los Angeles education community — including LAUSD, its labor partners, charter leaders, education advocates, philanthropy, and families — must set aside its ideological and political differences to...
By Guest contributor | February 23, 2017
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Commentary: How teachers buffered students from Celerity’s questionable practices
By Q. Tien Le In January, federal agents raided the offices of Celerity Educational Group, a charter school network, as part of an ongoing investigation into allegations of fraud and mismanagement. Prior to the raid, the Los Angeles Unified School District school board, citing governance and oversight issues, denied charter renewals for two of Celerity’s schools...
By Guest contributor | February 21, 2017
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California, LA continue to falter on federal foster youth education deadline
By Daniel Heimpel, The Chronicle of Social Change The California Department of Education “derailed” local education agencies’ efforts to ensure transportation for students in foster care, imperiling a $1.8 billion federal grant aimed at poor students, according to an email shared with The Chronicle and an education administrator in San Diego. This while Los Angeles County’s Board of Supervisors...
By Guest contributor | February 10, 2017
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NAACP should be supporting, not fighting, charters
*UPDATED By Johnathan Williams In light of the seemingly endless civil rights violations in the news daily, I was shocked to see our premier civil rights organization, the NAACP, call for a moratorium on the most effective vehicle for delivering better educational outcomes than our traditional school systems. As a man, who happens to be African-American,...
By Guest contributor | February 8, 2017
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Sorry, no counselor today: A teacher’s plea for ESSA funding to help neediest students
By Misti D. Kemmer Just last Thursday, I experienced one of those especially emotional days at work. I got a call that the mother of one of my fourth-grade students had passed away. Not five minutes later, another student went to the back of the room, sat down in a chair and began to cry. I...
By Guest contributor | January 27, 2017
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Los Angeles educators’ questions for Betsy DeVos
By Ama Nyamekye Twenty-two U.S. Senators will sit before Betsy DeVos on Tuesday morning and determine her qualifications to serve as Secretary of Education, a critical role in shaping education policy across our nation. Along with determining the direction for the Department of Education for years to come, this confirmation hearing will prove crucial for another...
By Guest contributor | January 16, 2017
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Supporting the success of DACA-mented youth
By Rafael Alvarez There are approximately 1 million undocumented youth currently living in America who were brought here as children. Practically speaking, this is the only country they have ever known, and they speak English fluently. They want to work hard and contribute to society and yet, up until four years ago, they were mostly...
By Guest contributor | December 19, 2016
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‘We will not be discouraged’: Soldiering on for the success of our children
By Erica Valente I have always believed that education is the path forward for all families. A few years ago I joined other families at my children’s school, 24th Street Elementary, to lead a campaign for change. Many parents, like me, volunteered hundreds of hours to improve a school that was in the bottom 5 percent of...
By Guest contributor | December 14, 2016