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Stoner parents win, LAUSD removes co-located charter

* UPDATED Parents of students at Stoner Elementary School, who have been fighting to get the co-located Citizens of the World Charter School Mar Vista (CWC) off their campus, have succeeded in their quest. A letter from LA Unified has informed them the charter “will not be co-locating” on the campus next year, a decision...
By Michael Janofsky | May 23, 2014
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LAUSD miscalculated plan for affordable housing for teachers

Six years ago the LA Unified School Board approved a program to build affordable “workforce housing” for teachers to live closer to schools where they work. But now, with one project nearing completion and two others in the planning stages, the district concedes that it has absolutely no control over who gets to live there,...
By Vanessa Romo | May 23, 2014
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Johnson extends fundraising lead in bid for school board seat

* UPDATED Alex Johnson has opened what is likely an insurmountable fund raising lead over the six other candidates running for the open LA Unified school board. With the June 3 special election just 11 days away, he has raised $208,625 through the reporting period that ended last Saturday, according to the LA City Ethics...
By LA School Report | May 23, 2014
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Just the threat of ‘Parent Trigger’ helps parents get what they want

It now appears that just the specter of a “Parent Trigger” action is enough for parents to get what they want. Lerina Cordero, mother of a first grade boy at West Athens Elementary in south Los Angeles, says parents there had been trying for years to get the school’s leadership to stop rampant bullying and...
By Vanessa Romo | May 22, 2014
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In new LAUSD policy, ‘jailed’ teachers to serve time at home

* UPDATED In a major policy shift, the LA Unified school district will no longer require teachers under investigation to report to so-called “teacher jails.” Instead, teachers will be allowed to go home, with the understanding that they must remain there during their working hours unless they are summoned elsewhere as part of the investigation.The...
By Michael Janofsky | May 22, 2014
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Polls suggest McKenna, Johnson heading for LAUSD election runoff

With less than two weeks before the special election to fill a vacant seat on the Los Angeles Unified school board, two candidates appear to be leading the field of seven, suggesting the probability of an August runoff. People familiar with two separate but consistent polls of likely voters conducted by professional firms said the two...
By LA School Report | May 22, 2014
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LAUSD biz kids pitch startup ideas in entrepreneur competition

Three teams of business-savvy LAUSD students competed last night in Hollywood for the chance to win cash prizes and a bid in a national competition for young aspiring entrepreneurs. Hosted by the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE LA), a nonprofit that offers entrepreneurial education to low-income LA unified students, the competition took place at the...
By Aaron Stella | May 21, 2014
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Teacher at Kennedy High School is back after district removed her

A librarian and teacher at John F. Kennedy High School, Leslie Garcia, is back at school shortly after being removed over allegations that she mishandled and manipulated the record-keeping of an after school provider, ARC. Garcia said she had “no comment” after LA School Report contacted her yesterday at the school library. Principal Suzanne Blake,...
By Yana Gracile | May 21, 2014
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School board blocks appointee critical of iPads

What is normally a routine, no-questions-asked formality for the LA Unified School Board hit a snag today. Board Member Tamar Galatzan opposed the reappointment of Stuart Magruder, an outspoken critic of the use of bond money for iPads, from the School Construction Bond Oversight Committee (BOC). The board effectively blocked Magruder’s reappointment by removing him...
By Vanessa Romo | May 20, 2014
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Race for California school chief a referendum on change

Associated Press writer Lisa Leff takes a look at the race for California Superintendent of Public Instruction San Francisco (AP) — Tom Torlakson, the veteran lawmaker seeking a second term as California’s elected superintendent of schools, and Marshall Tuck, a former charter school executive hoping to unseat him, are both Democrats. The two agree the...
By LA School Report | May 20, 2014