Coalition submits application for South L.A ‘Promise Zone’ designation A coalition led by Los Angeles Trade-Technical College finalized an application Thursday seeking to make South Los Angeles a “Promise Zone.” City News Service Chino Valley Unified target of suit over prayer at board meetings A local school district is the target of a lawsuit that...

Via The Huffington Post | By David Lyell In my 13 years of teaching at over 100 schools within LAUSD, K-12, regular and special education, students have asked me this question more times than I care to remember. While some question the commitment and contribution of substitute teachers, the tired cliche of a Substitute Teacher...

Earlier this month, Arnold Viramontes, an outside expert hired by former superintendent John Deasy, issued a report to LA Unified that was a scathing indictment of the new MiSiS system, finding that “red conditions” arose early and should have signified “No Go.” This week, in it’s weekly newsletter, the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles (AALA) expressed disappointment with...

iPad contract resurrected: LAUSD to spend $22 million on tech LA Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines is planning to spend $22 million in bond money to buy more than 20,000 iPads for standardized tests in the spring. KPCC Obama’s immigration plan will affect students of undocumented parents President Barack Obama will announce on Thursday night his...

Jury selection resumed today in the Miramonte Elementary School sex-abuse civil case against LA Unified while settlement proceed but not yet with any results. The district school board met in a closed session yesterday reportedly to discuss a settlement offer that was made by the plaintiffs, who are former students and parents at Miramonte suing...

LA Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines told the school board today that the beleaguered MiSiS program will need at least another year of remediation before it functions properly. “The MiSiS project isn’t going to be a quick fix,” he said, as if that came as much of a surprise. “It’s estimated that it will take a...

California students in high-poverty schools lose learning time, study says California high schools with high-poverty students lose nearly two weeks of learning time, according to a new UCLA study. Los Angeles Times How strict is too strict? Hundreds of schools have embraced an uncompromisingly stern approach to educating low-income students of color. The Atlantic Plaintiff...

LA Unified said today it has altered its salary offer to teachers by eliminating any contingency on a package that includes raises of 2 percent for this year, 2 percent for next year and 2.5 percent for the year after that. The district’s previous offer to the union, UTLA, had been with the same percentage...

Jury selection is scheduled to begin today in the civil case stemming from the sex abuse scandal at Miramonte Elementary School by former teacher Mark Berndt. Also set for today is a settlement hearing, which was scheduled by the judge in an effort to settle the case before it goes to trial. Assuming no settlement...

By Tamar Galatzan | Via Los Angeles Daily News At first glance, the proposal to increase the number of ethnic studies classes in Los Angeles Unified schools sounds like a good idea. After all, students would undoubtedly benefit from a deeper understanding of their neighbors and themselves. However, the resolution scheduled for a school board...