A new initiative called Los Angeles Promise Neighborhoods, six years in the making, finally launched this month. Headed by the Youth Policy Institute (or YPI), it aims to serve 18,000 kids in two neighborhoods — Hollywood and Pacoima — and hopes to expand even further in the future. The idea behind LA’s Promise Neighborhoods is...

The unions that represent LAUSD teachers and administrators have sent the School Board a letter raising “a concern” over controversial comments Superintendent John Deasy made to LA School Report in June.  Last month, following a decision by the Board to postpone voting on a motion by Tamar Galatzan to allow schools greater autonomy over how...

Newly elected Board President Dr. Richard Vladovic has retained the services of political consultant Mike Trujillo as a short-term communications deputy and strategist. Closely following Vladovic’s election as Board President, the move could  represent Vladovic’s intention to improve his relationship with the media. “I think Dr. Vladovic understands that his role of being Board President means...

Newly elected School Board member Monica Ratliff made a big splash on her first (public) day on the job when she stopped the Board President proceedings and moved that the two candidates — Tamar Galatzan and Richard Vladovic — say what they would do if they got the job, and then again asked whom they...

The best part of the LA Times’ recent exit interview with former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is that education reporters Howard Blume and Teresa Watanabe also published an annotated version of the full transcript — at Villaraigosa’s request. And the best parts of the transcript are Blume and Watanabe’s footnotes — see examples above — which betray no small amount of...

The Daily News has a very nice slideshow of yesterday’s eventful Board Meeting, which saw Board members Monica Garcia, Steve Zimmer and Monica Ratliff all get sworn in, and Dr. Richard Vladovic get elected Board President. A sampling: There’s also a nice picture in the LA Times of Ratliff and her mother embracing during the swearing-in process....

In one of the more dramatic meetings in recent memory, the newly installed 2013-2014 LAUSD School Board selected Dr. Richard Vladovic (standing, left) as its next President by a vote of 5 to 2. Newly sworn-in Board member Monica Ratliff joined Steve Zimmer, Marguerite LaMotte, Bennett Kayser and Vladovic himself in the majority. Outgoing Board...