LA School Report

Attorneys representing families of students who said they have been abused by teachers and principals at LAUSD protested outside the school headquarters Tuesday morning, carrying signs that read, “LAUSD Bullies Children to Drop Lawsuits,” “Don’t be Silenced” and “Stop LAUSD Abuse.” “The abuse in the school system continues, and the district should do something about...

A majority responding to the latest LA School Report poll said the biggest challenge facing the new LA Unified superintendent is the Broad Foundation’s charter expansion plan, which could drain enrollment. More than 50 percent of respondents chose it as No. 1. The second most popular answer expressed a bit of cynicism, as 18 percent chose: “Yikes,...

For the first time, LA Unified school officials can track former students as they are released from juvenile halls and detention camps to help reintegrate them into the public schools. In this first year of the program, the district has identified 1,067 students who are being returned to the school population, some of them as...

By Nicholas Melvoin In decrying the recently leaked memo outlining a plan to create more high-quality public charter schools in our city, LAUSD School Board President Steve Zimmer said: “This is not an all-kids plan or an all-kids strategy…it’s very explicitly a some-kids strategy, a strategy that some kids will have a better education at a publicly-funded school…[t]he conversation should be...

LA Unified board will consider outside superintendent search committee A group of civic leaders has pressed the school board repeatedly on the issue. Los Angeles Times, by Howard Blume LAUSD’s building program transforming neighborhoods An ambitious construction program by L.A.’s Unified School District has dramatically altered the look of several of the city’s neighborhoods in...

In what may be his final presentation to the LA Unified school board, Chief of External Affairs Edgar Zazueta said he will be giving a “legislative 101” tutorial at tomorrow’s Committee of the Whole meeting. The district announced in September that Zazueta, the district’s chief lobbyist in Sacramento and Washington, is resigning to join the Association of California...

Daniel Jocz, a social studies teacher at Downtown Magnets High School, is one of five people named today by Tom Torlakson, State Superintendent of Public Education, as 2016 California Teachers of the Year. Jocz is the only winner from LA Unified. “The teachers we are honoring today are dedicated, energetic, innovative and very effective,” Torlakson...

*UPDATED A petition is calling for the firing (again) of W. Keith Wyatt, An LA Unified lawyer who argued in court that a 14-year-old girl was partly responsible for her own sexual abuse at the hands of her teacher at Edison Middle School. After being told he would no longer be representing the district, he was...

By Lizette Alvarez MIAMI — When protests from parents and teachers erupted against the new Common Core tests here, Florida thought it had a solution: It dropped the tests. But it abruptly switched sources for the exams, hoping the substitute would be more palatable. Now, nearly six months after students finished taking their exams, Florida...

Obama administration announces new testing guidelines The Obama administration announced new guidelines toward standardized tests, saying kids spend too much time taking “unnecessary” exams in schools. CNN, by Laurie Ure and Kevin Liptak Families are choosing this L.A. school over privates and charters As L.A. Unified’s enrollment shrinks, with tens of thousands of students fleeing...