*UPDATED A petition is calling for the firing (again) of W. Keith Wyatt, An LA Unified lawyer who argued in court that a 14-year-old girl was partly responsible for her own sexual abuse at the hands of her teacher at Edison Middle School. After being told he would no longer be representing the district, he was...

  * UPDATED A blue-ribbon panel of leading figures in education, politics and finance has been working behind the scenes to help LA Unified identify financial challenges and solutions as the district faces budget deficits in the near future. The panel includes people who have worked with the district in the past, and many have...

At 8:30 a.m. today in Granada Hills, a dozen parents met to offer input at one of the two dozen community meetings held for the LAUSD school superintendent search. This was the earliest and most northwest of all the community meetings planned in the large LA Unified district. It was held at the Valley Academy...

One of Stephen Salva’s first big responsibilities as a new principal at Cheremoya Avenue Elementary School was to plan for the 100th anniversary of his school, which came last week. Salva, a 20-year veteran of LAUSD turned to a little-known gem that the district has had since 2003 — the person who serves as curator and...

A new LA Unified police diversion program, which replaces arrests with counseling, is keeping hundreds of students out of the city’s criminal justice system. “If we didn’t have this program, a lot would have gone into a courtroom and before a judge,” said LAUSD police chief Steven Zipperman, in a presentation yesterday to the district’s school...

LA Unified plant managers are putting together a things-to-do list for every school in the district to prepare for a possible record El Niño. Everything from cleaning out gutters to replacing a roof could help schools weather a strong storm system that is forecast to start this winter and last through spring. The concerns were...

In a room set to accommodate 300, fewer than 50 signed in at the Roybal Learning Center auditorium last night to give their input into what they want to see in LA Unified’s next superintendent. “We are just beginning,”  said Hank Gmitro, president of the firm conducting the search, Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates. “We provide...

It all begins tonight, the chance for people around the city to weigh in what they want in the next LA Unified superintendent. The first of a series of meetings around the districts is scheduled for 6 pm at the Roybal Learning Center Auditorium, 1200 Colton St. More meetings are scheduled over the next two weeks in...

A day after lawyers for Rafe Esquith said they knew of no outside investigation into his past, the Los Angeles Police Department today confirmed that a department probe begun earlier this year was continuing. “There is an ongoing investigation at this time,” said LAPD public information officer Norma Eisenman, an assertion confirmed by Capt. Julian R....

Facing a statewide and national trend in a shortage of special education teachers, LA Unified officials are mounting an aggressive campaign to find them. And, if they can’t find them, the district is training the teachers themselves. “We are out and relentless as far as it goes for teachers, because university enrollment is down for...