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Santa Monica school parents want stop to Breakfast in the Classroom

The food fight over Breakfast in the Classroom rages on as another LA Unified school is attempting to kill the program before it gets started. A group of parents at Paul Revere Charter Middle School in Santa Monica is petitioning the district for a waiver from the morning meal program next year, claiming that it’s...
By Vanessa Romo | March 13, 2015
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9 Venice High students arrested in connection with sexual assaults

Officers from the Los Angeles Police Department descended on Venice High School this morning and arrested eight juvenile male students for allegedly sexually assaulting two female students, according to media reports. A ninth student was arrested off campus, and at least five other students are also being sought by police. At a press conference, LAPD Cmdr....
By Craig Clough | March 13, 2015
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Commentary: How to fix No Child Left Behind

By Diane Ravitch | Ed Source Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s commentary for EdSource last month, called “How Not to Fix No Child Left Behind,” consisted for the most part of mushy platitudes that must be measured against the realities of his actions over the past six years. During that time, Duncan has aggregated an...
By LA School Report | March 13, 2015
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Strike chicken between LAUSD, UTLA; Pi Day at Millikan
Appearing before the LA Unified school board on Tuesday to respond to a district plan to send layoff notices to over 600 employees, UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl suggested that he sees a conspiratorial move by the board in response to UTLA’s seeking a new contract while threatening to strike. “I would hate to think these...
By Craig Clough | March 12, 2015
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Teachers union makes no commit for endorsement in Vladovic race

A meeting yesterday of UTLA’s political action committee, PACE, concluded with no decision to endorse LA Unified School Board President Richard Vladovic or his opponent, Lydia Gutierrez. Vladovic was forced into May runoff against Gutierrez, a veteran educator who is anti-Common Core, pro-Vergara and Republican. It was an unusually close race for Vladovic after serving...
By Vanessa Romo | March 12, 2015
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Commentary: A message from McKenna that he has nothing to say

Close readers of LA School Report might notice how infrequently LA Unified board member George McKenna is quoted in any story, apart from comments he makes at board meetings. There’s a reason for that, as I was reminded again yesterday in an email from him, and it’s a reason that both saddens me and, I...
By Michael Janofsky | March 12, 2015
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Morning Read: LAUSD drops effort to close 3 Magnolia charters

L.A. Unified ends effort to close embattled charter schools LAUSD has dropped efforts to shut down three campuses operated by an embattled charter school chain. Los Angeles Times SBE OKs rubric format but what to measure? The Board of Education approved the design of a new tool that will be used to measure how well...
By LA School Report | March 12, 2015
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JUST IN: State ed board votes to delay use of test results for a year
The California Board of Education voted unanimously today to delay using results of the 2014-15 Smarter Balanced test to tabulate school Academic Performance Index scores for at least one more year. Although the results will not be used on the state index, they will still be reported at the school, district and state level, according...
By Vanessa Romo | March 11, 2015
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UTLA one step closer to endorsing a Republican in Schmerelson

The Los Angeles teachers union, UTLA, has moved one step closer to endorsing Scott Schmerelson, a former LA Unified principal, administrator and a Republican, in the runoff race for Board District 3. Members of the teachers union political action committee, PACE, are recommending to the full committee an endorsement for Schmerelson in his bid to...
By Vanessa Romo | March 11, 2015
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LAUSD to start school one week later in move that pleases few

The LA Unified school board decided to start school one week later for the 2015-16 academic year in a compromise that board member Tamar Galatzan — who voted in favor it — summed up as “the worst of both worlds.” The 5-1 vote means students will begin classes on Aug. 18 next academic year. The...
By Craig Clough | March 11, 2015