LA Unified art teacher Stuart Lutz had a celebratory homecoming today as he returned to the classroom after nearly eight months in so-called “teacher jail.” Lutz was pulled from South Gate Middle School on April 21 while the district investigated allegations of mishandling fundraising money for an annual field trip to Disneyland Art Studio. Throughout...

*UPDATED Hamilton High School in West LA was put on lockdown for over an hour this morning after three men were shot in streets near the school, which is located on S. Robertson Blvd. near the 10 Freeway. The three victims were shot at different locations — with one victim being found on the 3100...

Representatives for the teachers union, UTLA, lowered their salary demand yesterday, asking LA Unified for a one-year 9 percent pay increase for the current academic year, with future increases tied to that. Vivian Ekchian, the district’s chief negotiator, said the proposal “is under review and we will ascertain the cost to the District.” While the...

Responding to a barrage of requests from district superintendents around the state, including a recent appeal from LA Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines, state education officials will consider a delay in using the results of the 2014-15 Smarter Balanced computerized test as means of measuring academic growth next year. “This will be a public discussion beginning...

The teachers union, UTLA, and LA Unified officials will be back at it today, for the last contract negotiations of the year. The final bargaining session has no set agenda, but Vivian Ekchian, the district’s Chief Labor Negotiator, told LA School Report salary discussions are likely to be front and center. To that end, the...

Via Los Angeles Times | By Sandy Banks An ethnic studies course changed my life when I was a teenager — though not in the way that today’s opponents of ethnic studies seem to fear. It didn’t teach me to feel like a victim, to despise America or to resent white people. I learned that...

Most schools solve web issues for computer testing Of the state’s more than 11,000 public schools, fewer than 21 of them will be taking the Common Core assessments this spring on pencil and paper. SI&A Cabinet Report State likely to support existing lunch standards California’s enthusiasm for healthy school lunches appears unlikely to change under...

A judge ruled today that a former LA Unified official’s lawsuit that claims his contract was not renewed in retaliation for criticizing the district’s handling of the Miramonte Elementary sex abuse case cannot move forward without more information being added to the complaint. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Richard Fruin found that there are not enough...

In a sudden reversal for LA Unified, Superintendent Ramon Cortines is asking the state to ignore the district’s Smarter Balanced testing results as a measure of academic growth or improvement next year. In a letter to the State Schools Chief, Tom Torlakson on Friday, Cortines wrote, “I have determined that it would be untimely to have...

Lovelyn Marquez-Preuher, an eighth-grade English teacher at Dodson Middle School in Rancho Palos Verdes, recently became one of five educators the California Department of Education named California Teacher of the Year. In an interview with Bob Bravo, LA Unified’s Local Instructional Service Center-South Superintendent, for his weekly podcast, Marquez-Preuher discussed her path to becoming a teacher, a...