LA School Report

KIPP Raíces Academy School in East Los Angeles celebrated its National Blue Ribbon Schools award on Tuesday. After the ceremony, LA School Report caught up with the school’s founding principal, Amber Young Medina, who opened Raíces in 2008 and is now the managing director of KIPP LA Schools. This is an edited transcript of the conversation. LA School Report:...

Court orders release of personal data for 10 million+ CA students LAUSD has been using its “robo call” system to alert parents to the data release and tell them how to opt out via the California Department of Education web site. Associated Press Editorial: Keep student data private in special-ed lawsuit, Los Angeles Times Madison...

Arguments in one of the most important lawsuits involving public education will be heard Thursday morning in the state Court of Appeals in Los Angeles. The case of Vergara v. California seeks to overturn five laws involving teacher tenure, dismissals and the last-in, first-out layoff policies. The case was brought on behalf of nine students in five...

Although LA Unified stands to potentially have its highest graduation rate ever this year, the district doesn’t want students to settle for D grades. In fact, the percentage of students maintaining a C or better in college prep or A-G classes has more than doubled in 10 years, according to the latest LA Unified statistics. In a...

Why L.A. Unified’s graduation rate is expected to soar this year The projected graduation rate could rise as high as 80%, compared with last year’s 74%, according to LAUSD officials. Los Angeles Times, by Howard Blume S.F. board unanimously backs condom access in middle school, San Francisco Chronicle Welcome to the Local Control Funding Formula...

LA Unified has returned the last of the military-style weapons it received under a controversial federal program. The news was released in a letter Tuesday, which stated that as of Feb. 5 the last of the weapons, demilitarized rifles, were back in federal custody. The letter from LA Unified Police Chief Steven Zipperman was addressed to Eric Mann,...

The National Blue Ribbon Schools award given out each year by the federal government is considered among the highest honors a school can achieve, and of the 335 Blue Ribbon schools in 2015, only one was from LA Unified. That school, KIPP Raíces Academy School in East Los Angeles, celebrated the award today in a...

The 2017 LA Unified school board elections are still more than a year away, but that isn’t stopping Nick Melvoin from officially throwing his hat into the ring of the District 4 race. The District 4 seat is currently held by board President Steve Zimmer, who has yet to officially declare he will be running...

More than 200 Compton school teachers call in sick Monday marked the third time in the last two years that Compton’s teachers have been accused of calling a sick-out, a day when workers agree to call out sick as a form of protest. NBC Los Angeles Report: State must adopt guidelines for parent engagement in schools,...

A group of community activists including students and parents plan to disrupt LA Unified’s Committee of the Whole on Tuesday afternoon to protest weapons on school campuses. Fight for the Soul of the Cities is protesting the federal government’s 1033 Program, which outfitted school police with machine guns and other weapons. The local civil rights group is asking that...