Via the Los Angeles Times |  By Howard Blume Los Angeles teachers’ union president Warren Fletcher said he will no longer actively campaign for reelection, clearing the path for challenger Alex Caputo-Pearl to become the next leader of United Teachers Los Angeles. In the first round of voting in March, Caputo-Pearl received 48% of the...

LA Unified officials had no additional information by mid-day on the fate of 19 students from 16 LAUSD high schools who were on the bus involved in a fatal crash yesterday, heading to Humboldt State University. Superintendent John Deasy met with reporters at a noon press conference but couldn’t offer much beyond reports of earlier in...

Just in case Judge Rolf Treu might have missed anything during the two months of Vergara v. California, a battle over teacher employment protections that concluded last month, the parties filed their post-trial briefs yesterday, each making one last effort to influence Judge Treu’s decision. At issue are five state laws that govern tenure, dismissal...

California bus crash: 5 students among 10 killed; at least 30 injured Los Angeles Unified officials said Friday that 19 of its students were aboard the bus that collided with a FedEx freight truck in Northern California. At least 10 people were killed in the fiery crash. Officials have not released the identities of those...

Via EdSource | By John Fensterwald Faced with intense opposition from teachers, Sacramento City Unified announced Wednesday it would not join other California districts in reapplying for a waiver from the federal No Child Left Behind law. Its defection leaves seven of eight districts seeking to extend a waiver from the federal accountability law through...

As testing gains steam, help center ‘inundated’ with teacher calls It’s week three for California’s new web-based standardized tests and some schools are reporting hair-pulling moments. “Our students are becoming frustrated,” said Bonnie Tanaka, principal of Madrid Middle School in El Monte. She said screens are freezing up, and – unlike what was promised –...

LAUSD plans to spend $837 million on disadvantaged students Disadvantaged students in L.A. Unified stand to benefit from a multimillion-dollar infusion for more tutoring, counselors, English language coaches, nurses, librarians and other support under a budget plan presented Tuesday. In the opening salvo in a two-month process under the state’s new school finance system, L.A....

Edweek has done a nice job providing opposing perspectives on the potential outcome of the Vergara v. California case, a lawsuit challenging the state’s teacher tenure and job protection laws. Below are the two articles, the first of which claims that the case is a lose-lose for the plaintiffs and defendants, while the second lauds...

This morning, the Los Angeles Unified School Board meets to discuss a wide variety of issues including what promises to be a charged debate about a budget plan unveiled by Superintendent John Deasy last week. Community groups have held a series of meetings and rallies, including one last night, advocating for a say in the...

Groups protest LAUSD spending priorities Several hundred students protested Los Angeles Unified’s proposed budget Monday, claiming poor pupils and schools will receive too little funding. Protest organizer Marqueece Harris-Dawson, president of the Community Coalition, said the district’s spending plan is too vague and does too little for kids who need help the most. LA Daily...