While district officials scrambled to sort out budget deficit issues last week, the Information Technology Department made progress on solving LA Unified’s costly student data management system problems, launching a more user-friendly MISIS website. In his latest weekly update, Superintendent Ramon Cortines wrote, “The new website serves as a gateway for a variety of information needs,...

*UPDATE Nearly three months after missing a self-imposed deadline, LA Unified is finally close to filling 10 positions to help thousands of native English speakers who struggle to learn academic English. With nine hired, there’s one to go. The school board passed the “Strengthen Support for Standard English Learners” resolution last June and devised a plan...

Just when you thought it was safe to hang around Stoner Avenue Elementary in Mar Vista, another fight is in the works. A pre-emptive protest is scheduled for next week to ward off another potential co-locator. ICEF Vista Academy Middle School, a charter that’s currently located at a church facility a few blocks away from...

Charter school supporters battling for a stronger influence over the LA Unified school board have the checkbook ready again. After providing heavy financial support for newcomer Ref Rodriguez, winner over District 5 incumbent Bennett Kayser last night, the charter group is weighing how much to spend for Rodriguez in the weeks leading to the May 19...

A practice run of the Smarter Balanced test taken by a sampling of LA Unified students last month exposed an alarming number of technological weaknesses that left a third of participating schools unable to access the computerized exam, a new survey shows. “The readiness test pointed out areas that need improvement and repair prior to...

Now that LA Unified and UTLA have agreed that they can’t agree, they’re headed for mediation later this month. The state Public Employment Relations Board has assigned a mediator to accomplish in three sessions what the two sides were unable to do in 18 meetings over seven months: negotiate a long-overdue contact for the 35,000-member...

Together for the final time before Tuesday’s elections, the three candidates for LA Unified’s Board District 5 seat were determined last night to set themselves apart from each other. In a small church in a residential neighborhood in South Gate, incumbent Bennett Kayser, and his opponents, Andrew Thomas and Ref Rodriguez, spoke only to the...

While the LA Unified’s District 5 board incumbent, Bennett Kayser, did not make himself available for an interview with LA School Report as part of our candidate profile series, he has nonetheless played a high profile role on issues before the school board during his term in office. With strong support from the teachers union, UTLA,...

If you thought LA Unified’s practice-run of the Smarter Balanced test last week would go smoothly, think again. But district officials insist the blame is not entirely the district’s fault. The state “Readiness Test” site, which was specifically designed for students to access the practice exam, crashed Thursday when state personnel tried logging into the system....

LA Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines had a stern warning today for the LA teachers union as well as for the district, itself: Not only are teachers not getting the salary increases they have been demanding in the now stalled contract negotiations, he said, but with a remaining budget deficit of $160 million, he has already...