Long time education reform advocate, Caprice Young, is taking over the troubled Magnolia Public Schools charter network, but it won’t be official until a set of test results come in. “I’m waiting to get my tuberculouses results,” she said, laughing on a phone call from her office. “Then I can actually set foot on a...

* UPDATED Magnolia Public Schools, which has fought bitterly with the LA Unified school board to keep several of its schools open, has turned to an old LAUSD hand to take over its leadership. Caprice Young, a long-time education reform advocate and former school board president has been named Magnolia’s new Chief Executive Officer. Young confirmed...

Mayor Eric Garcetti today helped kick off a fund raising campaign for Proyecto Pastoral and Promesa Boyle Heights which will focus efforts on expanding opportunity for youth in our communities. Both groups are non-profits that work to transform the East LA neighborhood by improving targeted schools and expanding social services in the community around them. The...

LA Unified’s recent order for new testing devices ensures that district students will have all the technical equipment they need to take the state mandated exam later this year. Whether the Smarter Balanced test results will be used for anything is a separate issue. While intense public scrutiny over the deal between the district and...

SEIU Local 99, one of LA Unified’s largest and most powerful labor partners, announced today it is backing all of the incumbents running for a district school board seat in 2015. After a town hall meeting for their members, the union representing nearly 40,000 cafeteria workers, bus drivers and special education assistance, among others, made...

LA Unified sustained another legal blow this week in a “whistleblower” case that’ll cost the district millions. After nearly a month-long trial, a Los Angeles jury awarded retired Air Force Officer and Junior ROTC instructor, Archie Roundtree, $3.3 million, finding that the district had revoked his teaching certification in an act of retaliation. This latest...

* UPDATED As LA School Report prepares to shut down for the year — and gear up for a long holiday Tamale Fest and Eggnog-a-thon — we’d like to take a moment to look ahead at the big stories awaiting us in 2015. So grab your snow globe, give it a good shake and look into...

John Deasy was often described by critics as an autocrat in how he ran the district. Nine senior aides reported to him directly. That was nothing. In the two months since taking over, his replacement, Ramon Cortines, has doubled the number of LA Unified officials under his direct supervision. He has 18 aides reporting to him...

LA Unified art teacher Stuart Lutz had a celebratory homecoming today as he returned to the classroom after nearly eight months in so-called “teacher jail.” Lutz was pulled from South Gate Middle School on April 21 while the district investigated allegations of mishandling fundraising money for an annual field trip to Disneyland Art Studio. Throughout...