LA School Report

House leaves ‘No Child’ education law behind The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bipartisan K-12 education bill. Washington Post, By Lyndsey Layton Leaves of absence tighten school labor pool Teachers taking months-long breaks from schools have steadily increased over the past decade, according to a report to the Commission on Teacher Credentialing. Cabinet...

The LA Unified school board said today it will begin the first round of interviews of candidates for superintendent at 8:30 Sunday morning. It’s the start of the endgame for the seven board members, who are seeking to find a successor to Ramon Cortines before he steps down at the end of the year. In...

A digital rights group in San Francisco has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against Google, accusing it of spying on students that use the company’s Chromebooks and Google Apps for Education (GAFE) software by collecting and data mining children’s personal information, including their Internet searches. If true, the practice might violate...

Parents, teachers and school administrators from Larchmont Charter School in West Hollywood are protesting a cell phone tower proposed for a church bell tower next to the campus, with a large turnout expected at a public hearing at 6 p.m. tomorrow at the West Hollywood Library. The independent charter school is overseen by LAUSD but...

By Howard Blume Nearly $2.3 million in donations made by charter school supporters during this year’s Los Angeles school board races were shielded from disclosure until after the election was over, a review of records shows. Those contributions — from philanthropist Eli Broad, heirs to the Wal-Mart fortune, former New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg...

Parents upset over cell tower possible being installed near WeHo school Parents said radiation from the cell tower will have harmful effects on their children. ABC7, by Mayde Gomez Judge rules district not liable in arrest of special ed student in drug sting In 2012, it was called Operation Glasshouse, an undercover drug investigation at...

Outgoing LA Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines got a series of big surprises this afternoon with a long-planned tribute that included a group of students singing for him and old friends stopping by district headquarters to honor his legacy. The school board auditorium was packed for the event, which Cortines knew nothing about. The seven school...

* UPDATED As LA Unified studies several academic calendar options while also reaching out for public input, a group of parents has started an online petition, asking the district not to consider the “extreme” option of shortening summer break to five weeks while extending winter break to seven. An advisory panel is currently studying six...

A new report from the American Institutes of Research shows that young children have up to five months of learning advantage compared with children who don’t get an extra year of kindergarten. But the report — Impact of California’s Transitional Kindergarten Program, 2013-14 — also points out that there’s a long way to go in funding the pre-school program...

LA Unified teachers should have fewer problems getting their Fall term grades in and their report cards out before the winter break, thanks to a new computer help program launched yesterday. The new service request system has been years in the planning. Teachers and staff can get technical help with computers, applications, internet and other technology issues...