Morning Read: LAUSD recruits DC principal as arts education exec
LA School Report | May 21, 2014
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L.A. Unified hires respected D.C. principal to lead arts education
The leader of one of the nation’s top arts high schools has accepted a position in charge of arts education for the Los Angeles Unified School District. Rory Pullens, 56, has served as head of school and chief executive officer at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C. Pullens had been recruited by the nation’s second-largest school system for several years. He could not be immediately reached for comment. LA Times
LAUSD earmarks $50 million for campus health clinics
Los Angeles Unified is poised to expand its efforts to make access to health care easier for schoolchildren with an allocation of $50 million for wellness centers on campuses. The scale of the plan to open facilities that will serve kids and community members alike is unprecedented for the district, noted Los Angeles Trust for Children’s Health Executive Director Maryjane Puffer. LA Daily News
Bailout for teachers’ pensions to cost California school districts
California’s public school districts could face difficult cutbacks if state officials move forward with a plan to bail out the retirement fund for teachers, officials and educators say, but even those painful steps may fall short of curing the pension deficit if investments don’t meet expectations. LA Times
Lawmaker: Time to restore support for school nurses
But after years of budget cuts, California has one of the highest student-to-nurse ratios in the nation at 2,700 to one. A fact that diminishes student health – and with it academic performance – as over-burdened teachers and untrained office staff attempt to patch things up as best they can. Now, with economic conditions improving and revenue on the rise, a California lawmaker wants every school district receiving extra cash for disadvantaged students under the state’s new funding system to hire a nurse. S&I Cabinet Report
California schools better off with Torlakson in charge
Commentary: As a teacher and school principal, I haven’t forgotten the trouble California’s schools were in when state Superintendent Tom Torlakson took office three years ago. School budgets were being slashed. Teachers were losing their jobs, along with counselors, librarians, and bus drivers. Two million students — one in three statewide — attended school in a district in financial jeopardy. LA Daily News