Alliance College-Ready Public Charter Schools said today the group violated no laws over unionization efforts and asserted that some Alliance teachers “feel harassed by UTLA’s communications tactics.” Catherine Suitor, Chief Development & Communications Officer of Alliance, said in a statement to LA School Report the charter group looks forward to arguing its case before the state...

Because of a $300 million boost in bond money and the ability to hire extra help, most of the LAUSD schools are expected to have their air conditioning units working when school opens Aug. 18. “August is traditionally the hottest month of the year, and the severe heat spells doesn’t help the classroom situation,” said...

With a hearing now scheduled for Aug. 21, LA Unified’s teachers union, UTLA, will have the chance to argue before a neutral party that Alliance College-Ready Public Charter Schools, violated state education law by blocking the union’s efforts to bring Alliance teachers into its membership. The union’s accusations are detailed in two complaints (here and...

As the school year kicks off this month, 28 LAUSD schools will get free psychological services on site, thanks to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. “Unfortunately, violence and trauma is a regular thing in the lives of children in some parts of Los Angeles, and teachers are just not trained to handle that — they should be...

In what organizers call the state’s largest teacher training ever attempted, more than 20,000 educators gathered for the California Teachers Summit at 33 sites across the state on Friday. “It’s so exciting to bring teachers teaching teachers in this unprecedented collaboration,” said Ellen Moir, of the nonprofit New Teacher Center who helped organize the Better Together campaign. Among...

LA Unified’s chief lobbyist, Edgar Zazueta, told the school board last week that the House of Representatives version of the revised No Child Left Behind bill could cost the district $78.7 million in Title I money for low income schools, which translates to 22.9 percent of its funding. The board has voted to protest the House...

LAUSD School board president Steve Zimmer has given the board’s two newest members committee chairmanships. Ref Rodriguez will be taking over the Early Childhood Education and Parent Engagement Committee, which was previously run by Bennett Kayser, whom Rodriguez defeated in the June runoff. Zimmer named the other new board member, Scott Schmerelson, chairman of the Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment Committee....

The LA Unified board endured a long and unusual protest last night as about 50 students demanded specific actions to get military-style weapons out of the hands of district school police. The students, some of them wearing bullet-proof vests, chanted for 20 minutes at the start of a meeting — “Back to school, no weapons”...

The LA Unified board voted last night to start the search for a new superintendent by issuing a request for bids to firms that would aide in the selection process. The move is the first step toward identifying candidates to replace the current superintendent, Ramon Cortines, who has expressed a desire to step down by...

A new documentary — focusing on the ethnic mix of Boyle Heights and how the construction of a freeway nearly destroyed the neighborhood — is drawing the attention of educators as a way show how the east LA neighborhood once stood as a monument to diversity and community strength. “East LA Interchange” debuted at a...