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LAUSD board committees take on Student Bill of Rights, pre-K cuts

LA Unified school board members will be busy this week in a series of committee meetings as a prelude to the board’s monthly meeting next week. The Successful School Climate Committee, chaired by Monica Garcia, will be gathering tomorrow to discuss the implementation of the Student Bill of Rights. The district passed the new set...
By Vanessa Romo | May 4, 2015
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LAUSD preschool program in peril with help still 2 years away

LA Unified is on the brink of cutting a highly-successful preschool program for some of the district’s poorest children at the same time that members of the California state assembly are trying to expand early education programs for all low-income pre-Kindergarten students. The district’s School Readiness Language Development Program (SRLDP) is just one of a...
By Vanessa Romo | May 4, 2015
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Does testing cause or solve America’s education problems?

By Patricia Levesque and Kevin Welner | New York Times It is much easier to correctly identify a problem than to come up with a workable solution. When No Child Left Behind was signed into law in 2002, the United States did indeed have a problem — one that was identified, at least partially, by...
By LA School Report | May 4, 2015
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Morning Read: PUC Schools gave contract to employee’s company

LAUSD charter group gave food contract to an employee’s firm The probe involved Jacqueline Duvivier Castillo, who works for PUC Schools and is a part-owner in Better 4 You Meals. Los Angeles Times Democrat’s teacher tenure law gets killed The legislature is faced with changing longstanding California laws for evaluating, firing and laying off teachers....
By LA School Report | May 4, 2015
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Official status of disabled student athletes says, ‘We are all the same’

A few hours on a Saturday afternoon at a Special Olympics event over 30 years ago changed the course of Teri Hayden’s life, and now it looks as if those few hours have changed the lives of hundreds of disabled student athletes at LA Unified. After several years of pitches and proposals from Hayden —...
By Craig Clough | May 1, 2015
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State teacher unions file appeal in Vergara case, calling it ‘baseless’

* UPDATED The state’s two teachers unions — the California Teachers Association and the California Federation of Teachers — filed their appeal today in the landmark education case they lost last year, Vergara v. California. The lower court ruling declared unconstitutional state laws that govern teacher seniority, dismissal and layoffs. The unions called the lawsuit...
By LA School Report | May 1, 2015
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District 5 candidate asks Kayser to retract claim of endorsement

Andrew Thomas, who finished third behind Ref Rodriguez and Bennett Kayser in the District 5 school board primary election, has complained to Kayser that an invitation to a Kayser fundraiser this afternoon incorrectly says Thomas is supporting him in the May 19 runoff. An email from Kayser’s campaign circulated yesterday describes Kayser as “The choice...
By LA School Report | May 1, 2015
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Report: 91% of teachers spend own money on school supplies

By Leila Meyer | The Journal This year 91 percent of teachers used some of their own money to pay for school supplies, and 38 percent used only their own money, according to a new report from The NPD Group. The report, “Today’s Teachers: School Supply Purchasing Dynamics and Behaviors,” surveyed almost 1,000 K-12 public and...
By LA School Report | May 1, 2015
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LA Unified says Smarter Balanced testing back on schedule

After a year of disastrous technical issues and internet connectivity problems, LA Unified students are on track to complete the new computerized state mandated tests called Smarter Balanced, according to district officials. Cynthia Lim, executive director of the office of Data and Accountability, told LA School Report today that more than 50 percent of students have...
By Vanessa Romo | April 30, 2015
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Is mega-church having mega-influence over SoCal school board?

By Amy Julia Harris | Reveal Bible verses, calls to accept Jesus and the promise of eternal life can be heard in two disparate places in a southeastern suburb of Los Angeles: the Calvary Chapel Chino Hills megachurch and the Chino Valley Unified School District Board of Education. Three of the five school board members...
By LA School Report | April 30, 2015