LA Unified posted a 92 percent decrease in the number of days lost to suspensions as a result of its Restorative Justice program and the district’s new approach to discipline. In the 2007-2008 school year, a total of 74,765 days were lost to suspensions, but that number plummeted to 6,221 in the 2014-2015 school year, according to a...

UPDATED * It’s official. Monica Garcia announced Tuesday to her supporters that she will be running to retain her seat on LA Unified’s school board. Meanwhile, fellow board member Monica Ratliff surprised many education and City Hall watchers last week when she quietly took out papers with the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission to allow her to run for the...

Neighborhood councils in Los Angeles have served as easy and reliable sources of funds for public schools. The councils have $37,000 a year to dole out to the community, and many have set aside a portion of their budgets specifically for schools. But recently some of the councils have learned of a restriction that would tie their hands in...

Editorial: California should restore the trigger allowing parents to force change at low-performing schools An editorial challenges the arguments that LA Unified has had against the parent takeover of the failing 20th Street Elementary School. The editorial muses: “Had the parents been hard-nosed from the start, they’d have transformed the school by now.” Los Angeles...

Rising concussion numbers have spurred LA Unified to examine how to better monitor head injuries and ensure the safety of student athletes. “I love football,” said board member Richard Vladovic, who noted that this week the NFL for the first time recognized a link between football and brain disorders. “But I’m very concerned about long-term effects on...

About 100 parents from 20th Street Elementary School met Tuesday night in the auditorium with more than a dozen school administrators after the district denied a “parent trigger” that would allow them to make sweeping changes to the school. Some of the parents were still unhappy, however. “It was like a big cheerleading session,” said parent...

The two schools with 1,850 students that were relocated due to a methane gas leak in Porter Ranch probably won’t be moved back to their locations before the end of the school year. Although the district continues to weigh options about returning the students back to their schools, there are no plans to move the...

LA Unified has rejected a parent petition to take over a failing elementary school in South Central Los Angeles, reversing district policy and essentially asserting that no California school qualifies under the state “parent trigger” law. Parents of 20th Street Elementary School were informed of the district’s rejection in a letter late Saturday, the last day...

  A civic group protesting the military-style weapons once held by LA Unified police said they will continue to disrupt meetings and hold demonstrations until they get answers and action. The group, Fight for the Soul of the Cities, took over a committee meeting at the LA Unified school board headquarters last month, and this week...