LA School Report

By the end of next week just before winter break begins, 95 LA Unified schools will have been issued computer devices for the year — one for every student, according to Bill Wherritt, the district’s Distribution Project Manager for the Instructional Technology Initiative Task Force. The remainder of the 103 schools in a pilot program for...

By Nicholas Melvoin If members of the LAUSD Board of Education are curious as to why the district’s enrollment is declining, they should review how the district treated parents over the last few days in the Playa Vista and Westchester neighborhoods for some clues. In a tale that is unfortunately all too familiar to many LAUSD...

 By Donna Littlejohn Got room for a 37-year-old Shetland pony named Peaches? How about two goats, 17 chickens, three tortoises or three turtles? After years of struggling to keep the doors open, Los Angeles school officials said this week that the San Pedro science center likely won’t open in the 2016-17 school year. “It doesn’t look...

Students react to outgoing superintendent Ramon Cortines The take-away for the high schools students: Don’t trust kids with technology, get us updated textbooks, and improve our schools at the bottom. Los Angeles Times, by Daniela Gerson A kids’ coding expert says we’re making computer class way too boring LA Unified and other districts wanting to...

More salacious charges against celebrated teacher Rafe Esquith were released this week, and for the first time LAUSD superintendent Ramon Cortines commented publicly about the case. At a forum last night, Cortines said he was surprised about the charges but stood behind the district for taking action, once its investigation was complete. “For me, six...

*UPDATED LA Unified is exploring building two new schools in the western San Fernando Valley on the sites of two campuses that have been vacant for decades at a potential cost of tens of millions. The move comes as the district has no current plans for any new schools and would need to spend an...

* UPDATED In what may be his last public appearance as superintendent of LA Unified, Ramon Cortines last night spoke to about 300 people in a wide-ranging discussion that touched on many of the hot-button issues now confronting the district. Sitting alongside Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez, who served as moderator, Cortines said Eli Broad’s...

By David L. Kirp The No Child Left Behind law will soon be consigned to the dustbin of history. With a rare display of bipartisanship, Congress has overhauled federal education policy. The law’s successor, the Every Student Succeeds Act, is headed for the president’s desk, and he has signaled his intention to sign it. (He did,...

Attorneys for famed teacher Rafe Esquith criticize release of documents The documents include allegations that Esquith fondled children in the 1970s before he was a teacher, as well as more recent claims of inappropriate behavior. Los Angeles Times, by Zahira Torres Cortines criticizes Broad, calls on warring factions to work together  In a conversation at...