LA School Report

California schools rolling in dough, but ‘scary’ clouds appear on horizon Up and down California, school districts that handed out tens of thousands of pink slips in the recession are now buying equipment and scrambling to find qualified teachers. San Jose Mercury News, by Judy Lin State says number of students approved to get free...

LA Unified Superintendent Michelle King is calling for calm in the face of rumors of impending raids on schools with authorities seeking out undocumented immigrants. “Neither the Los Angeles Unified School District nor the Los Angeles School Police Department is aware of any planned raids or other action by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at any...

By Walt Gardner When Michelle King recently became the new superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, she immediately drew criticism for proposing single-sex education. The basis was a 2014 meta-analysis of existing studies of single-sex instruction that showed no significant benefit, for boys or girls, over coeducation. I respect empirical evidence, but I doubt...

For all the successful magnet schools in LA Unified and elsewhere, they are not attracting as much federal support as charter schools. That was a stark message from the district’s federal lobbyist, who told a district board committee this week that Washington is increasing national support for charter schools by nearly 32 percent but by...

By Chris Gardner How Hollywood can diversify its ranks — in every area of the business from the creative sides through the executive ranks — is a subject that has seen its fair share of headlines, especially during the last week. But Rory Pullens has yet another possible solution, though this isn’t one that has...

Schools within 5 miles of Aliso Canyon leak will get air purifiers The largest number of devices, 210, is going to the largest campus in the area, Granada Hills Charter High School. Los Angeles Times, by Howard Blume LAUSD Supt Michelle King talks segregation, iPads, and priorities The new superintendent of the nation’s second-largest district...

Alex Caputo-Pearl, president of the LA teachers union, UTLA, has been warning for months of “dangers” ahead, imploring his members to dig deeper in their pockets to fight them. He will soon find out if the message resonates among the union’s 35,000 members, now that ballots have gone out, asking for a $19 monthly raise...

It’s a such unique moment with the leadership of Sacramento that LAUSD should find a way to take advantage. That was the message from LA Unified board President Steve Zimmer to district staff at a board committee meeting yesterday: figure out how to ask for more money from the state, even more than the district’s fair...

LA Unified receives fewer public records requests per year than other governmental agencies or school districts of similar size, but district staff is now suggesting that the board consider pushing for legislation that would set a fee for complying with some of the requests. The recommendation came from Christine Wood, the assistant general counsel and...

Jayson Jones was my favorite person to call when I needed a substitute for my high-school English classes. Jayson was an aspiring teacher who was extremely popular with the students and related especially well with many of the at-risk kids. One day, I walked into the classroom at lunchtime, and he was sitting alone in...