The Morning Read
Your Daily Roundup of LAUSD news from across the web | 10.05.21
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From teachers to elected officials to parents, the 17 candidates who want to fill the vacant seat on LA’s school board
*Updated Nov. 26: Bennett Kayser and City of Bell Mayor Fidencio Gallardo have dropped out of the race to support Jackie Goldberg. Teachers, elected officials and parents are among the 17 candidates who have filed their intention to run in LA Unified’s special election in March to fill the board seat that has been vacant since Ref Rodríguez...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero | November 14, 2018
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Antonucci: Lessons from teacher-candidates about this year’s vote — and the next one
Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report. Last week, I expressed doubt that press outlets would revisit the assumptions made prior to the election about teacher candidates for office in the “uprising” states. I was wrong to be so pessimistic, as there were dozens of stories about how the results did not live up...
By Mike Antonucci | November 14, 2018
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LAUSD board approves study of housing homeless students and their families on district properties
*Updated Nov. 28 LA Unified’s school board voted Tuesday to study using district property to house homeless students and their families, despite split public opinion. In a 4-1 vote with one abstention, school board members approved a resolution giving Superintendent Austin Beutner six months to research the feasibility of using district sites to: Allow overnight...
By Taylor Swaak | November 13, 2018
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LAUSD ends fees for parent volunteers
LA Unified on Tuesday ended the requirement that parents have to pay to volunteer in their children’s schools. The school board voted unanimously to approve a resolution by Superintendent Austin Beutner, who exercised his authority to waive the $56 fee for fingerprinting and background checks. The district will also nearly double — from seven to...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero | November 13, 2018
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LAUSD to consider housing homeless students and their families on district properties
LA Unified is poised to consider using district property to house homeless students and their families. Kelly Gonez, who authored the resolution that’s up for a school board vote Tuesday, said that to her knowledge, this would be a first for the district. The resolution, co-sponsored by Mónica García and Nick Melvoin, would ask Superintendent Austin...
By Taylor Swaak | November 12, 2018
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Commentary: Dual language opportunities need to be expanded in early education
My husband and I consider ourselves to be bilingual and biliterate. My husband was born in Honduras and came to the U.S. when he was 8 years old, but still maintained his native language at home. While I was born in California, Spanish was my primary language at home and I was also an English...
By Marysol Perez | November 12, 2018
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More parents, less district: LAUSD’s new superintendent readies his strategic plan to bring change to LA schools
Six months after taking over as LA Unified’s superintendent and vowing to bring change, Austin Beutner is weeks away from unveiling his strategic plan for the nation’s second-largest school district. Beutner shared some of his plan’s goals after a parent summit last week at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels downtown, one of...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero | November 12, 2018
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Midterm post-mortem: Was the election a repudiation of ed reform? Or just a sign that it’s going ‘under the radar’?
Education reform, at least its most contentious elements, didn’t have a great night Tuesday. In Arizona, nearly two-thirds of voters rejected a bid by lawmakers to provide education savings accounts to all students. In Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker, a villain of teachers unions, lost his bid for a third term to state Superintendent Tony Evers, who wants...
By Carolyn Phenicie | November 12, 2018
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LAUSD’s ‘signs of fiscal distress’ trigger two new warnings, including risk of going broke within three years
*Updated Nov. 9 LA Unified’s budget has been approved for now by its county overseers, but they gave the district a new deadline for it to address its structural deficit or face a takeover. In a letter delivered late Thursday, the Los Angeles County Office of Education said the district’s continued use of deficit spending —...
By Laura Greanias | November 9, 2018
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Despite post-Parkland surge in youth vote, student activists largely fail to oust pro-gun candidates in midterms
In the months that followed February’s mass school shooting in Parkland, Florida, student survivors launched a large-scale campaign to encourage youth voter turnout — and to knock pro-gun lawmakers out of power. The success of those young people on Election Day, however, is open to debate. While Parkland activists played a role in encouraging a...
By Mark Keierleber | November 8, 2018