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LA Mayor Eric Garcetti’s approach to LAUSD draws mixed reviews
Two weeks after Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s top education adviser left City Hall, there are no immediate plans to fill the position, a sign of the mayor’s hands-off approach to the nation’s second-largest school district. LA Daily News

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Superintendent’s pay in South Bay district called ‘excessive’
“I don’t know of anybody, in any major city, who makes anything close to that, even with extra bonuses or compensation,” said Michael Casserly, executive director of the Council of the Great City Schools, based in Washington.California Supt. of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson called Fernandez’s compensation package at Centinela Valley Union High School District “wrong, significantly excessive, unreasonable.” LA Times

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Vergara time bomb: Will a judge tear down CA teacher protection laws?
Important attendees filed into Los Angeles Superior Courthouse’s extra large Room 222, where the Michael Jackson trial was held, to hear closing arguments in Vergara v. California, a civil suit that could completely upend public education in California – and possibly the U.S. – by making it easier to fire ineffective teachers. LA Weekly

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Pencils down, iPads up! LA schools’ new exam strategy put to the test
Gone are the No. 2 pencils and eye-crossing bubble sheets — Los Angeles Unified schools will begin piloting a new state exam on Tuesday, administered entirely by computer. Students in grades 3-8 and grade 11 will be the only ones  trying out the new test, designed by the Smarter Balance Assessment Consortium to measure mastery of the new Common Core standards. KPCC