The Morning Read
Your Daily Roundup of LAUSD news from across the web | 10.05.21
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LAUSD, UTLA back to the bargaining table & more: 8 teacher strike updates you might have missed over winter break
*Updated Jan. 7 As nearly half a million L.A. Unified students return from holiday break on Monday, the district and its teachers union plan to sit down for a last-ditch attempt to avert a strike. If there’s no agreement, United Teachers Los Angeles intends to strike Thursday. There are more than 30,000 UTLA members who...
By Taylor Swaak | January 3, 2019
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Commentary: Why my child will attend school during a UTLA teacher strike
The line of teachers picketing at an elementary school near downtown L.A. in May of 1989 spanned across the façade of the building and main points of entry. My boyfriend and I (now husband) were both college students at nearby Cal State L.A. and teachers’ aides (TA’s) at the school. Until then, we were both...
By Evelyn Alemán | January 3, 2019
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How California’s Rural Education Network is creating an online hub to better connect remote schools and empower teachers to share experiences, strategies & classroom materials
Educators in rural communities face unique challenges, but they also have special strengths that aren’t always found in urban and suburban schools. In California, where 60 percent of districts are in towns or rural areas, a new project is leveraging those strengths to help educators connect with one another and get the support they need....
By Laura Fay | January 2, 2019
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Antonucci: With a Los Angeles teacher strike approaching, some echoes resonate from 1989
Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report. United Teachers Los Angeles and L.A. Unified march inexorably toward a strike in 2019, leading many to think back 30 years to the last Los Angeles teacher strike in May 1989. UTLA calls the 1989 strike a “historic UTLA victory” that resulted in a “historic contract.” Some...
By Mike Antonucci | January 2, 2019
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Commentary: Do I strike? A teacher wants to make informed decisions
I listened in angst to hear what my union’s response would be to the fact-finding panel’s report as it relates to the contract negotiations between LAUSD and UTLA. When I heard that we were moving to strike, I felt like a child caught between two parents in a bitter divorce. I have taught with LAUSD...
By Karina Gensicke | January 2, 2019
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11 charts that changed the way we think about schools in 2018
Education can look static when viewed from 30,000 feet. Every year, tens of millions of kids enroll in public schools, most moving on to the next level in June. Change comes slowly, if at all. And certain verities — whether held by lawmakers, parents, or teachers — have always held true. But every year, a...
By Kevin Mahnken | January 1, 2019
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Lessons from our year tracking school shootings: Students more likely to be hit by lightning than shot in class, yet fear of mass violence is driving policy
*Updated Jan. 2 In a Baltimore conference room filled with school-based police officers intent on stopping the next school shooting, psychologist Peter Langman offered a perspective that in 2018 seemed underappreciated, if not profound. “When you get out of your car and walk into the school building, you’ve just gone from the most dangerous place...
By Mark Keierleber | January 1, 2019
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A day after mediation panel backs LAUSD’s salary offer, UTLA sets a January strike date
*Updated United Teachers Los Angeles will strike Jan. 10 if L.A. Unified doesn’t take “a dramatically different approach” to negotiations, the union announced Wednesday. “[By] refusing to invest in our schools, the district has disrespected our students and disrespected us,” Alex Caputo-Pearl, the union’s president, said at a morning news conference. “We’ve reached the point...
By Taylor Swaak | December 19, 2018
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Trump school safety commission recommends rejection of Obama-era discipline reform, encourages more armed staff and physical security
In a highly anticipated but controversial move, the Trump administration’s school safety commission recommended on Tuesday the repeal of Obama-era school discipline guidance that pushed schools to reduce their reliance on suspensions and warned them that racial disparities in punishments could violate federal civil rights laws. The recommendation is one of many in a new...
By Mark Keierleber | December 18, 2018
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What’s in a report card? Depends on who you ask. New report shows that parents and teachers have very different understandings of grades & tests
If a child earns a B– in math on his report card, is that a good grade, or does it mean he’s the worst in the class? Ask a parent and a teacher, and you’ll likely hear very different answers. But that disconnect is just the beginning when it comes to how these two groups...
By Kate Stringer | December 17, 2018