-
Plan to overhaul Obama Global Prep Academy draws a union protest

Dozens of teachers, parents and students protested today at a UTLA rally against LA Unified’s plans to reconstitute one of the district’s most troubled schools. Barack Obama Global Preparation Academy in south LA is one of the district’s few Pilot Schools as well as one of 37 “Reed Investment Schools,” those involved in a legal...
By Vanessa Romo | May 27, 2015
-
CCSA paying Alliance alumni to promote anti-UTLA message

*UPDATED A bitter war of words between the management of Alliance College-Ready Public Schools and UTLA, the union trying to organize its teachers, got nastier today. UTLA accused Alliance management and the California Charter Schools Association (CCSA) of “anti-teacher activity” by paying alumni to call parents of students to sway their opinion against union efforts to draw the...
By Craig Clough | May 27, 2015
-
LA Unified turning to marketing to reverse declining enrollment

Where’s Don Draper when LA Unified needs him? After more than a decade of declining enrollment, the impact of which is costing hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue losses, the district has a plan to stop, or at least slow down, the exodus: Marketing! Now, officials just need to decide on a plan. Each year...
By Vanessa Romo | May 27, 2015
-
Just in: ‘Game changer’ to game over for Westside ‘immersion’ school
LA Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines has cancelled the district’s plans for a proposed construction project at a Westside school campus that was to house an expanded foreign language immersion program. Explaining the rationale for his decision in a three-page memo to members of the school board and its bond oversight committee yesterday, Cortines said the project “will not...
By Craig Clough | May 27, 2015
-
Musk didn’t like his kids’ elementary school so he created his own

By Maya Kosoff Elon Musk didn’t like his kids’ school, so he started his own, the inventor and entrepreneur said in an interview on Beijing Television. The school is called Ad Astra — which means “To the stars” — and is small and relatively secretive. It doesn’t have its own website or a social media presence. Christina...
By LA School Report | May 27, 2015
-
Morning Read: LAUSD sued after alleged sexual assault on campus

LAUSD sued after student allegedly sexually assaulted on campus The lawsuit claims that the school principal said she was too busy to help when notified during the attack. ABC7 Wall Street cheers Brown’s revised May budget A key Wall Street rating agency gave California a positive credit report last week. SI&A Cabinet Report Can we...
By LA School Report | May 27, 2015
-
LA Unified board announces new hires for district area chiefs

*Updated After forging ahead with a massive overhaul of LA Unified’s Education Service Centers by Superintendent Ramon Cortines in March, the school board today approved contracts for three new local area superintendents and renewed contracts for another three. Among the new hires is Vivian Ekchian, who will head the newly created Northwest region. As the district’s chief...
By Vanessa Romo | May 26, 2015
-
As school year ends, so does Vladovic presidency; Zimmer next?

* UPDATED The close of the school year next month also brings an end to Richard Vladovic’s second term as LA Unified board president. Rules bar him from serving a third consecutive year. While critical issues await the new president — transformation to new technology, managing the growth of charters, dealing with new budgets, among...
By LA School Report | May 26, 2015
-
Report: More time, a lot more money needed for ethnic studies

When the LA Unified school board passed a resolution that would begin the process of making ethic studies a graduation requirement, it did so without knowing how much it would cost. But now, after a draft report from the Ethic Studies Committee was released last week, it has some idea, and it is not chump...
By LA School Report | May 26, 2015
-
Editorial: No fake classes for California’s students

By The Editorial Board When it was revealed that students at Jefferson High School in South Los Angeles and other schools were being assigned to “classes” in which nothing was actually taught, many people wondered how this could happen. Isn’t it against the law to stick kids in fake classes and deprive them of basic...
By LA School Report | May 26, 2015