Closing arguments are scheduled for tomorrow in Vergara v California. Lawyers for the nine public school children who are the plaintiffs will speak from 10 to noon, followed by their defense counterparts, from 1:30 to 3:30. The plaintiffs have the option to get in a last word after that, but, really, is there much new...

The defense rested its case today in Vergara v. California after an examination of an LA Unified administrator that was designed to show that the state laws under challenge did not impede the district’s effort to get rid of ineffective teachers. On Monday, court resumes with the plaintiffs’ opening a short rebuttal phase of the trial,...

Marc Litchman has an idea. As far as his campaign for Congress, challenging Representative Brad Sherman, a Sherman Oaks Democrat, it’s his only idea. He wants to break up LA Unified. But not into two districts, one on either side of the hill, as others have advocated. “We need six or seven,” Litchman said in...

LA Unified Superintendent John Deasy said a principal who gave Alex Caputo-Pearl permission to take unpaid time off to campaign for president of the teachers union, UTLA, has been disciplined. The action came in response to accusations that the leave, a violation of district’s contract with UTLA, provided Caputo-Pearl an unfair advantage over other candidates...

The race for LA Unified’s open board seat took a dramatic turn today as Alex Johnson’s campaign accused a rival, Genethia Hudley-Hayes, of “deliberately falsifying” her academic credentials. Roy Behr, Johnson’s political consultant, said research into her background found discrepancies in her resume and, in a meeting yesterday with his counterpart in the Hudley-Hayes campaign, Parke...

Fresh off his (unsuccessful) effort to get a District 1 voice onto the LA Unified school board right away, trustee Steve Zimmer is returning to the monthly board meeting tomorrow with a plan that would lead to another voice with influence on the board: Students. Zimmer is introducing a measure — the Student Engagement and...

With Vergara v California at the halfway point, and court in recess until next week, it’s a good time to see where things stand and where they might be going, if they’re going anywhere at all. The trial has enormous consequences for the state, and maybe beyond, calling into account five California laws that govern...

Steve Zimmer isn’t giving up. Despite legal opinions against him, the LA Unified board member for District 4 is still seeking a way to give voting rights to a temporary appointee to the vacant District 1 board seat until a permanent member is elected later this year. The board voted earlier this month against such a...

A lawsuit that could dramatically change how California public schools deal with ineffective teachers gets underway Monday in a California Superior Court for Los Angeles County, where LA Unified Superintendent John Deasy is expected to be the first witness to testify. The suit, Vergara v California, has been brought by students who are challenging state...

It’s not often that LA Unified board members Tamar Galatzan and Bennett Kayser agree, and Kayser’s abstention on a measure two months ago killed an effort by Galatzan that would have lowered the threshold for schools receiving federal dollars for low-income students. Now, Kayser is returning to the board meeting tomorrow morning with a measure...