LA School Report

Friday is a day off in LA schools, but it’s not simply to turn Labor Day weekend into a four-day holiday. It’s Admission Day, a little-known state holiday that commemorates California being admitted into the United States as the 31st state on Sept. 9, 1850. This year, LA Unified recognizes the Sept. 9 state birthday on...

California owes the U.S. Department of Education an ESSA plan on Sept. 18, but the current draft doesn’t do enough to identify low-performing students and schools, according to a recent independent review. Out of nine criteria, Bellwether Education Partners gave the state’s plan for complying with the new federal accountability law six low scores. Proposals for...

The White House on Monday rescinded a ban on giving surplus military equipment to local law enforcement agencies, but don’t expect any of it to go to LA Unified. LA Unified School Police Chief Steve Zipperman issued a terse statement Monday: “LASPD no longer utilizes the 1033 program for military weapons procurement.” The 1033 program...

Fifty-five percent of the students who graduated from LA Unified high schools in June were eligible for California’s public universities, and the school board president says he’d like to see more stringent requirements imposed to get a high school diploma sometime in the next three years. Preliminary data from the district show 55 percent of...

The number of LA Unified employees has increased even as enrollment continues to decline, according to district figures compiled this month for the new school year but not yet posted. This is in direct defiance of the strong recommendation by an Independent Financial Review Panel that urged a reduction of about 10,000 staff members, including...

This is the third article in a series produced in collaboration with The Guardian examining the climate affecting immigrant school children and their parents as the new school year begins. See a version of this article at TheGuardian.com. Gathered around a camera in their family’s kitchen, the four Duarte children pleaded for help. When their undocumented...

Labor leaders who work with LA Unified were surprised their regular labor report was not on the agenda at the first board meeting of the new school year. Dropping the “labor partners update” was part of new board President Ref Rodriguez’s “Kid’s First” focus, so he began Tuesday’s meeting with students talking about their schools...

This is the second article in a series produced in collaboration with The Guardian examining the climate affecting immigrant school children and their parents as the new school year begins. See a version of this article at TheGuardian.com. One student exchanged hand gestures with a classmate in the school hallway. Another drew graffiti in his...

There are sanctuary cities, sanctuary states, and school district safe zones. Now a group of Los Angeles public schools and community organizations have created a Sanctuary Schools coalition that guarantees protections for undocumented students and their families through formal school policies. The new group, California Schools Are Sanctuaries (CASAS), is the first of its kind...

This is the first article in a series produced in collaboration with The Guardian examining the climate affecting immigrant schoolchildren and their parents as the new school year begins. See a version of this article at TheGuardian.com. If federal immigration agents come knocking, don’t open the door. You have the right to plead the Fifth Amendment and...