LA Unified high school seniors counting on grant money to attend state colleges and universities got a reprieve today as the district announced a month-long extension for when student grade information needs to be verified for financial aid. Merit-based Cal Grants require that the school district verify a student’s grade point average (GPA), and the...

Barely a week into his job as LA Unified superintendent, Ramon Cortines is pushing back against the school board that hired him, voicing opposition to using any more of the $1.3 billion in bond money to buy digital devices equipped with curriculum for use in classroom instruction. Three times since his first day on the...

In the first contract talks under LA Unified’s new superintendent, Ray Cortines, negotiators for the district and the teachers union, UTLA, hit another snag yesterday as the district reasserted claims that unions demands are unsustainable and would lead to severe cutbacks to key programs, resources, and personnel that would detrimentally impact students. The union is...

KIPP LA Schools today announced plans to open nine additional campuses, nearly doubling its presence in south and east LA by 2020. The high performing charter schools are part of the Knowledge Is Power Program,which runs 162 campuses, educating 58,000 students nationally. In LA, the organization currently operates 11 schools serving 4,000 elementary and middle school...

In his first open address to the LA Unified school board since he was rehired as superintendent last week, Ramon Cortines promised accountability, transparency and constant communication. “I know the buck stops here,” he told the seven members during a brief address that included an update on the district’s flawed student data software program, MiSiS....

In case there were any chance LA Unified‘s new superintendent, Ramon Cortines, had forgotten just how bizarro school board meetings can be, his first one back today as head of the district included accusations of embezzlement, murder and sexual harassment. Welcome back, Mr. Superintendent. While the school board voted unanimously to approve the $300,000 a year contract Cortines...

* UPDATED A controversy is brewing at Harvard Elementary School where LA Unified cafeteria workers say they feel discriminated against after being instructed to speak only English during working hours. According to employees at the Koreatown school, an “English only” sign was posted in the cafeteria last week, reminding employees that they could be dismissed for...

On the day after he stepped down as LA Unified Superintendent, John Deasy offered a glimpse of what may be next for him, and apparently the options include politics. “I’m not going to speak about them specifically but I would give you the general topics,” Deasy told a group of reporters on a telephone press call...

While the LA Unified school board approved the contract settlement with former Superintendent John Deasy, the vote was not unanimous, several district sources confirmed. In a long, closed-door meeting of the seven board members earlier this week, one of Deasy’s staunchest critics on the board, Monica Ratliff, was the lone dissenter. The six other members voted...

Ray Cortines appears  to be returning to lead LA Unified for a third time. With John Deasy resigning, Cortines was chosen unanimously by the seven member board, a condition Cortines insisted upon before agreeing to take the helm of the district, according to sources who were made aware of the board’s decision. An official announcement is...