LA School Report

It’s a week since the school board set criteria for the next LAUSD superintendent, but that didn’t stop about 100 parents, students and community advocates from weighing in on what kind of person they think the candidate should be. A group from South Los Angeles and the Eastside gathered at district headquarters yesterday to campaign...

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge issued a preliminary injunction yesterday against Alliance College-Ready Public Schools, the latest development in the effort by the LA teachers union, UTLA, to unionize Alliance teachers. The injunction, which was sought by the California’s Public Employment Relations Board (PERB), follows a temporary restraining order the judge issued in late October when...

LA Unified is among nine California school districts that are using a new index to gauge the success of schools, applying a mix of academic achievement as well as social, emotional and cultural measures. Leaders of the non-profit California Office to Reform Education (CORE) districts presented their plan to the California School Boards Association annual...

The Partnership for Los Angeles Schools announced today that its preliminary graduation rate for the 2014-15 school year rose to 77 percent, a seven-point improvement over the previous year. The 17 Partnership schools in South LA, Watts and Boyle Heights are part of a non-profit started by former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in 2008 while he...

In the wake of the mass shooting yesterday in San Bernardino, both LAUSD school superintendent Ramon Cortines and school board president Steve Zimmer today reaffirmed the district’s commitment to safety at local schools. In a statement, Cortines emphasized, “Every building and school within this District has a safety plan in place.” Zimmer pointed out that extra support...

The executive director of the state charter schools political action committee sent an email to the LA Unified school board and other district officials yesterday, offering a sharp response to a story in the Los Angeles Times that was highly critical of the group’s campaign finance reporting practices. “I am reaching out to you to ensure that...

In a recorded robo-call sent out to teachers last night, seven UTLA leaders encouraged them to attend the LA Unified board meeting next week and relate positive things that are going on in their schools. The union leaders, led by president Alex Caputo-Pearl, took turns encouraging teachers to remind the board that great things are...

Scott Schmerelson has revised his LA Unified board resolution that attacks an outside group’s plan to expand the number of charter schools in the district. A majority of the seven board members has expressed opposition to the plan. But a shift in mission from the group — Great Public Schools Now, supported by the Broad Foundation and...