-
Commentary: LAUSD shows indifference to sex abuse victims

By Sandy Banks When it comes to handling sexual misconduct by teachers, the Los Angeles Unified School District loses even when it wins. The district was let off the hook by jurors in a lawsuit filed by a middle school girl who’d been coaxed into sex, on and off campus, by her math teacher. The...
By LA School Report | September 22, 2015
-
Morning Read: Bill sets guidelines for student reps on school boards

Gov. Jerry Brown acts on student representatives, car seats, tow trucks The legislation sets clear guidelines for when student representatives are appointed to and removed from school boards. Los Angeles Times One in 6 school districts gives up on Medi-Cal outreach reimbursements The exodus is part of the fallout from a 2012 federal investigation that...
By LA School Report | September 22, 2015
-
7 from LA Unified among 16 honored as LA County Teachers of the Year

A record seven LA Unified educators were among 16 who have been named Los Angeles County Teachers of the Year. They are now in the running for the California Teacher of the Year award. The state winner moves up to the national competition, which will be held next spring. “I am so proud of our...
By LA School Report | September 21, 2015
-
Pilot program at Nava Prep: robotics, drones and entrepreneurship

About 50 high school students now spend one class a day learning state-of-the-art technology in robotics, drones, 3D printing, bitcoin, artificial intelligence and bio tech, along with cutting-edge practices in venture capitalism, crowd-source funding and other business practices. It’s all part of a first-year pilot program at Nava College Preparatory Academy in South Central that...
By Mike Szymanski | September 21, 2015
-
At 71, teacher who feared computers is now an LAUSD tech champion

Jan Price heard that computers were coming to her kindergarten classroom at Galt Elementary School in Lake Balboa in the heart of the San Fernando Valley. She was scared. “It’s time for me to retire,” Price remembered saying. “I can’t handle this. I’m not technical at all.” That was a year ago. Now, the 71-year-old...
By Mike Szymanski | September 21, 2015
-
Study finds lower test scores for students that use computers often

By Jill Barshay For those of us who worry that Google might be making us stupid, and that, perhaps, technology and education don’t mix well, here’s a new study to confirm that anxiety. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) looked at computer use among 15-year-olds across 31 nations and regions, and found that students who...
By LA School Report | September 21, 2015
-
Morning Read: UTLA protests opening of Broad’s new museum

Teachers union holds protest outside Broad museum on opening day Before art aficionados could get their first look inside Eli Broad’s new museum Sunday morning, they got an angry earful on the outside from teachers. Los Angeles Times LAUSD teacher says he spelled out ‘N-word’ during history lecture A teacher temporarily suspended says he referred...
By LA School Report | September 21, 2015
-
Charter group: LAUSD’s independent charters outperform district schools

Students from LA Unified’s independent charter schools outperformed their counterparts at traditional schools on the recent Smarter Balanced standardized tests in the number meeting and exceeding standards, according to a new analysis by the California Charter Schools Association (CCSA). The charter group found that the charter students scored nine percentage points higher in English language...
By Craig Clough | September 18, 2015
-
Westwood Charter parents gather petition for address verifications

* UPDATE A group of parents at Westwood Charter School fear that families are faking their addresses to enroll their children in the highly sought-after LA Unified-affiliated school. The parents were concerned that school enrollment is coming dangerously close to its maximum capacity. First priority for enrollment in such schools usually goes to local residents. When the...
By Mike Szymanski | September 18, 2015
-
UTLA plans protest against Broad at his new downtown museum

A few days after the posh parties with the likes of Reese Witherspoon, Orlando Bloom, Ed Ruscha and Frank Gehry to celebrate the opening of the new Broad Museum, the LA Unified teachers union, UTLA, is planning a protest at the museum on Sunday, aimed at its namesake: Eli Broad, one of LA’s leading philanthropists. More specifically,...
By Mike Szymanski | September 18, 2015