LA School Report

By Lenore Skenazy Back in 2009, the parenting site Babble listed the top 50 “mom” blogs in America—funniest, most fashionable, etc., and “most controversial.” That would be my blog, Free-Range Kids. Then it was voted most controversial again, a year later. What crazy idea was I pushing? Don’t vaccinate your kids? Clobber them when they cry?...

State’s top education official plans new accountability system to rate schools Torlakson said he will announce the creation of a committee to formulate a new accountability system for evaluating and rating schools. Los Angeles Daily News Commentary: What LAUSD needs in its next superintendent The Los Angeles Unified School District has at most a year...

The LA Unified board has scheduled a special meeting next week to initiate discussions on how to conduct the search for a successor to Superintendent Ray Cortines, who has expressed a desire to step down by December. “The board will meet on July 30 to start just the technical part of the [search] process,” board president Steve...

A state lawmaker is challenging California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson‘s recent assertion that grants intended to help low-income, English learners and foster youth can be used for across-the-board teacher raises. Assemblymember Shirley Weber, a Democrat from San Diego, says Torlakson’s interpretation of the law could completely erode the purpose of the grants, opening...

A 28-year-old female teacher has been arrested on suspicion of sexual abusing one of her students at San Pedro High School. Michelle Yeh, who was on temporary assignment in the science department of the school during the past spring semester, was arrested Friday after a 15-year-old male student claimed she had abused him on several...

* UPDATED A wave of angry complaints by parents of students at a small elementary school has succeeded in convincing LA Unified to replace a principal whom the parents described as unfit for the job. The parents at Mid-City’s Prescott School of Enriched Sciences Magnet Elementary School, one of the district’s original four magnet schools, gathered 119...

By EdSource Staff Legislators who headed out of town on Friday for a month have already decided the fate of many key bills. Gov. Jerry Brown has signed, including a much debated child vaccination law that eliminates the personal belief exemption to school-required vaccinations. All of the bills to rewrite the teacher evaluation law have...

L.A. superintendent: ‘When it comes to student safety, we are going to choose students over adults every single time.’ Los Angeles schools superintendent Ramon C. Cortines e-mailed me Monday night with a reaction to my latest column. Washington Post Teacher training course aims to boost students’ college readiness Nearly 5,000 teachers across the state in...

As the result of a new law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown last month, California’s school districts must specifically outline in their Local Control Accountability Plans (LCAP) how they will help homeless students, through tracking their test scores and other accountability measures. The law is believed to be the first of its kind in the...

In a campaign that may be the most ambitious in the state, if not the country, LAUSD is gearing up to launch an anti-sexting campaign for students, teachers and parents. The launch is scheduled for early in the new school year in all middle and high schools, said Judy Chiasson, the district’s program coordinator for...