The federal government has awarded LAUSD a $700,000 grant to assist struggling at-risk students to stay in school and keep on track to get to college or into the workforce. The grant will build on the district’s collaboration with the Los Angeles city government, the Los Angeles County Departments of Mental Health, Probation and Health Services...

So far, LA Unified parents seemed more interested in weighing in on the school calendar than on the superintendent search. Twenty parents and teachers showed up at a community forum last Thursday night at Burroughs Middle School in Hancock Park. That is a robust number compared with the average turnout at community forums held over two...

Where’s Zimmo? Dressed as the popular “Where’s Waldo” red-and-white-striped children’s book character, LA Unified School Board President Steve Zimmer took to the Vine Street Elementary School twice today to encourage parents and teachers to get involved in the superintendent’s search. He used his appearances to say he is extending the deadline for people to complete...

A survey by a civil rights group shows that Muslim students in California get bullied twice as much as the national average. The full report from the California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CA) reflects interviews with more than 600 Muslim students, ages 11 to 18. It found that 55 percent of Muslim students have...

LA Unified board President Steve Zimmer has announced he will be wearing a Halloween costume tomorrow when he visits schools. Oh, it’s not to join festivities planned for many of the LA Unified schools. Rather, he wants to give one last-ditch effort to push people to provide input into the superintendent search by filling out a...

Sure, they can go to any of the community meetings. Sure, they can fill out a survey online. But, ultimately, outside groups say they want a seat at the table when deciding the next LA Unified school superintendent. At a special session after a closed session on Tuesday, the school board voted against a proposal...

At his final appearance before LA Unified’s Committee of the Whole yesterday, chief lobbyist Edgar Zazueta introduced his successor — Leilani Yee. “I am terribly nervous because I don’t feel like I’m good at public speaking, like Edgar is,” Yee told the board, her first appearance as the heir apparent to the job — the board still...

As LA Unified school board president Steve Zimmer pleads for more involvement with the public for the superintendent search, the board voted down yet another effort to give the community greater influence in the selection process. It was the latest example of how the district is urging the public to play a role in the...

Attorneys representing families of students who said they have been abused by teachers and principals at LAUSD protested outside the school headquarters Tuesday morning, carrying signs that read, “LAUSD Bullies Children to Drop Lawsuits,” “Don’t be Silenced” and “Stop LAUSD Abuse.” “The abuse in the school system continues, and the district should do something about...

For the first time, LA Unified school officials can track former students as they are released from juvenile halls and detention camps to help reintegrate them into the public schools. In this first year of the program, the district has identified 1,067 students who are being returned to the school population, some of them as...