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Parents share their hopes for their children’s education

One in three students in Pacoima and Panorama City attends a low-performing school, but parents on Saturday heard a message of hope. Great Public Schools Now, a nonprofit formed to accelerate the growth of high-quality public schools in LA, held its first in a series of town halls with parents and community members from those...
By Sarah Favot | October 24, 2016
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Flavored milk, high-speed rail, a name change and more LAUSD board decisions

It wasn’t all about charters at the 13 hours of meetings held Tuesday by the LA Unified School Board. They also made decisions on possibly bringing flavored milk back to schools, encouraging more water access, discouraging a high-speed rail rumbling past some schools, a name change to a school with a titled deemed racist, plus more. Other...
By Mike Szymanski | October 20, 2016
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LAUSD douses plans for local After School Satan Club

* UPDATED On a technicality, LA Unified turned down the Satanic Temple of Los Angeles from starting up an After School Satan Club on one of their elementary school campuses. But it doesn’t mean the idea is banned until hell freezes over. The district’s decision had nothing to do with the merits of the after school...
By Mike Szymanski | October 20, 2016
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Morning Read: California attorney general calls for improvements in student attendance reporting, especially in early grades
California attorney general calls for state actions to improve student attendance California Attorney General Kamala Harris on Wednesday called for the California Department of Education to take over a job that her office has done for the past four years: release an annual data analysis on chronic student absenteeism. The request came as part of a 10-point...
By LA School Report | October 20, 2016
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A balanced job or ‘they want to kill our charters’? Debate rages after a day of tough charter decisions

*UPDATED LA Unified is struggling to define its role in overseeing charter schools as the numbers of academically strong charters continue to grow across the nation’s second-largest school district. LA has the most independent public charter schools overseen by a single district and usually approves most petitions. But this week a record number of charters,...
By Mike Szymanski | October 19, 2016
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Morning Read: Not one teacher lives in LAUSD’s affordable housing units built for them

LAUSD teachers earn too much to live in the affordable housing apartments built for them In the mid-2000s, in the midst of a housing boom, the Los Angeles Unified School District realized that skyrocketing rents were fueling teacher turnover. Nearly half of all new teachers in some neighborhoods were leaving the district after three years. L.A....
By LA School Report | October 19, 2016
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Charter school scorecard: How the board voted Tuesday night

* UPDATED Five independent public charter schools were denied Tuesday night by the LA Unified school board. The board granted one petition of the nine schools on the special agenda that had been recommended for denial. Another school will likely keep its charter under a last-minute deal, and two were petitions withdrawn. Here is the action Tuesday...
By LA School Report | October 18, 2016
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Magnolia may take legal action if charters are denied, calls on board President Zimmer to recuse himself

Magnolia Public Schools, facing a Tuesday afternoon vote that could shut down three of its schools, is prepared to take legal action and is calling on board President Steve Zimmer to recuse himself based on “a level of bias.” A letter sent Tuesday by a law firm on Magnolia’s behalf lays out its response to the...
By LA School Report | October 18, 2016
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EXCLUSIVE: Middle school science teacher enters race for San Fernando Valley seat on LAUSD board

A teacher who worked as an education policy advisor in President Barack Obama’s administration announced Tuesday she is running for the East San Fernando Valley District 6 seat on the LA Unified school board. Kelly Gonez, a 7th-grade science teacher at Crown Preparatory School in Los Angeles, joins five others who are seeking to replace...
By Sarah Favot | October 18, 2016
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LAUSD school board approves one new charter school and three renewals; those recommended for denial to be voted on later today

The LA Unified school board today approved the renewal petitions of three independent public charter schools and approved a petition for one new charter school. The new charter school approved by the board is Gabriella Charter School 2, which plans to serve up to 468 students in grades TK-6 in Boyle Heights or Lincoln Heights....
By Craig Clough | October 18, 2016