Supervisors appoint ‘strong advocate’ for county Office of Education post Debra Duardo, who dropped out of high school at 15 and was a teenage mother to a disabled boy, was selected on a unanimous vote last Tuesday during a closed-door session. Duardo has held positions as LA Unified’s director of Pupil Services and of Dropout Prevention...

Members of the LA Unified School Board and the Los Angeles City Council joined last week with after-school program supporters, families and students to call for an increase in state funds. About 75 people gathered Friday outside L.A. City Hall in support of a resolution authored by City Council member David Ryu, chair of the...

Growth of charter schools in California leads to conflict with school districts The heads of UTLA and CCSA square off in a radio debate as charter advocates are seeking to double the number of students attending charter schools in California by 2022. KQED Oakland school district sued by charter group over access to facilities, San...

Granada Hills Charter triumphs again in state academic decathlon For the fifth time in six years, students at Granada Hills Charter High School have won the California Academic Decathlon. They will defend the school’s national title in April. KPCC The ‘Broad plan’ for LA schools grows to more than charters only, KPCC How to help elementary...

Are charter schools suspending too many students? In the 2011-12 school year, charter schools nationwide had an average out-of-school suspension rate of 7.8 percent, as opposed to 6.7 percent in traditional public schools, meaning the rate in charter schools was 16 percent higher. However, the data is a few years old, and much has changed...

Monica Ratliff files to run for Fuentes’ City Council seat in the Valley Ratliff, a grade school teacher who scored a significant upset in the 2013 election, filed initial paperwork Monday to run for the San Fernando Valley seat being vacated by Los Angeles City Councilman Felipe Fuentes. Los Angeles Times, by David Zahniser and...

Last week officials shut off water taps at 30 schools in Newark, N.J., after lead levels were found to exceed federal standards. Lead from aging pipes created a water crisis in Flint, Mich., in January and may do so next in cities in Ohio and Mississippi. So what about LA? “Yes, our water is safe,...

California moves to bring special education students ‘into the fold’ of mainstream education Ordered by the federal government to elevate academics for students with disabilities, and by the state to raise low-income student achievement, the California Department of Education is working to create a unified system that will do both. EdSource, by Jane Meredith Adams...

Superintendents, but not teachers, give high grades to Common Core rollout Most California teachers, principals and superintendents view the Common Core as more rigorous and more relevant to students than the previous state standards but disagree over how well the Common Core has been implemented, researchers from the nonprofit education agency WestEd have concluded. EdSource,...

The principals of a charter and a district elementary school that share a Baldwin Village location have teamed up to bring dual-language educators together this weekend to learn from each other and share best practices, strategies and resources. About 60 educators from the LA area have signed up to attend Saturday’s free half-day “unconference,” in...