-
LAUSD moves forward with revamped math and reading intervention program
Correction appended June 26 A popular literacy program that LAUSD superintendent Alberto Carvalho proposed significantly altering will get a one-year reprieve, with specialist positions off the budgetary chopping block. Part of the recently approved $18.8 billion budget, the move responds to teachers and parents who protested Carvalho’s plan to revamp the program, known as Primary...
By Will Callan | June 25, 2023
-
LAUSD considers expanding popular math program without clear evidence of effectiveness
Twenty kindergartners at Los Angeles Unified’s Coeur d’Alene Avenue School sit on a multi-colored carpet, listening to their teacher present the day’s math lesson. Projected on the whiteboard are clip art images of a gold coin and a pot of gold against a rainbow background. St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner, and the...
By Will Callan | May 23, 2023
-
Historic, but incremental: Educators face two realities in LAUSD deal with UTLA
The word “historic” has gotten a lot of play during labor negotiations in Los Angeles Unified this year. The district has used it to describe its offers to the teachers and support staff unions. The unions themselves — Local 99 of Service Employees International Union and United Teachers Los Angeles — have used it to describe their...
By Will Callan | May 2, 2023
-
‘I just hope it doesn’t go longer’ — Scenes from day 1 of the L.A. strike
March 24 Update: LAUSD announced a new agreement with SEIU Friday that includes a 30% bump in wages and retroactive pay. See the full details. Judging from the rain and official rhetoric, it was a dark Tuesday morning in Los Angeles. Officials at the Los Angeles Unified School District were predicting a rough three days...
By Will Callan | March 22, 2023
Investigation: Nearly 1,000 Native Children Died in Federal Boarding Schools
Podcast: What a Mentorship Mindset Can Do for Student Motivation
Black and Hispanic Voters Say Democrats Aren’t Focused Enough on K-12 Education
Teen Activist Rhea Maniar on the Power of Abortion to Turn Out Young Voters
-
‘A grain of salt’: LAUSD parents question leaders’ sincerity as strike approaches
Updated March 20 They sympathize with the workers. Some plan to join them on the picket line at LA Unified schools. But when it comes to union and district leaders, LAUSD parents are skeptical and angry. SEIU Local 99, LAUSD’s 30,000-member union representing employees like custodians, bus drivers, and special education assistants, plans to strike...
By Will Callan | March 17, 2023
-
LAUSD service workers move another step closer to a strike
Update, March 13: SEIU Local 99 announced over the weekend that it plans to hold a 3-day unfair labor practice strike to protest what it characterizes as harassment from LAUSD. The union will announce dates for the strike this Wednesday at a joint rally with the teachers union, UTLA. An FAQ on UTLA’s website says...
By Will Callan | March 8, 2023
-
After years of tension, charter school may soon leave LAUSD campus
Los Angeles Unified’s most publicly contentious co-location may soon be coming to an end. Brooke Rios, the executive director of the New Los Angeles Elementary, a charter school that has shared a campus with Baldwin Hills Elementary for nearly seven years, said her school is close to securing its own building. “We’re doing everything in...
By Will Callan | February 14, 2023
-
Q&A: New LA School Board President talks new staff contracts, evaluating Carvalho
After almost a lifetime in California politics — first as a student activist, then as an elected official — Jackie Goldberg has returned to a familiar seat of power. Last month, by unanimous vote, the 78-year-old representative of Board District 5 was elected president of the Los Angeles Unified Board of Education. She last held...
By Will Callan | February 7, 2023
-
‘Nail in the coffin’: LAUSD parents and employees predict disaster if workers strike
Updated Feb. 13 SEIU Local 99 announced on Feb. 11 that the strike authorization had passed with 96% support from members who voted. The authorization does not guarantee a strike but allows the union’s bargaining team to call one if necessary. The union’s first state-run mediation session with LAUSD is scheduled for Feb. 21. If...
By Will Callan | January 24, 2023
-
Services denied: LAUSD parents and advocates slam weak rollout of plan for students with disabilities
Correction appended Jan. 10 Every week or so, Los Angeles parent Glenisha Cargin makes a round of phone calls to LAUSD school officials trying to get help for her young son. Cargin, the mother of a first-grader on the autism spectrum who attends a district school in Westmont, calls the principal. Next she moves on...
By Will Callan | January 10, 2023