LA School Report

* UPDATED Members of an LA Unified board committee were told today that the district would need 10 times current funding to address the capital needs of all district schools. The board’s Budget, Facilities and Audit Committee was shown a power point presentation that said the cost of capital improvements necessary to modernize every district...

At its meeting this week, the LA Unified board directed Superintendent Ramon Cortines to expand the teacher prep Career Ladder program, which helps supports district employees who want to become teachers. The resolution opens the program by another 300 participants, beginning next July. According to statistics cited in the resolution, enrollment in teacher preparation programs across...

LAUSD school board approves $2.5M in spending on arts education The Los Angeles Unified School District school board on Tuesday approved $2.5 million for arts education. KPCC Percentage of students held back a grade plunges The percentage of students held back a grade fell by nearly half from the 2004-2005 school year to 2009-2010, according...

A judge has ruled that LA Unified’s lawsuit accusing its former chief risk officer of stealing confidential documents related to the Miramonte school sex abuse case and leaking them to the media will move forward, as it does not violate the defendant’s First Amendment rights, City News Service reported. The lawsuit against Gregg Breed was filed in...

Via Los Angeles Times | By Steve Lopez  This is not exactly a be-careful-what-you-wish-for story, but it sort of is. Monica Ratliff was a reasonably happy teacher at San Pedro Elementary School on the edge of downtown Los Angeles. “I just love the classroom,” said Ratliff, for whom teaching was a second career. The Ivy...

One of the more contentious moments at yesterday’s LA Unified board meeting was a debate over a resolution to “Promote Healthy Relationships and Prevent Teen Dating Violence” No one disagreed with the intent or with asking Superintendent Ramon Cortines to deliver a report to the board early next year on how to implement such a program....

The LA Unified school board got a first look at the district’s financial future, and what members saw wasn’t pretty. Yet, it wasn’t ugly enough to stop the board from approving millions of dollars in new expenditures. Like a town crier, Superintendent Ramon Cortines has been warning anyone willing to listen that the district is...

New bill would significantly expand state preschool in California Another bill proposing to significantly expand state-funded preschool has been introduced in California. The Hechinger Report LAUSD bans use of antibiotic-treated chickens in school meals LA Unified joined with five other major school districts Tuesday to announce plans to ban the use of chickens treated with...

The LA Unified school board and union leaders moved today to help ensure that district schools are “safe havens” in support of President Obama‘s recent executive orders on immigration. The orders, announced last month, potentially give deportation relief to millions of undocumented immigrants and their children. A resolution introduced by board members Steve Zimmer and Monica...

LA Unified student Timothy Walker of Crenshaw High School was among five students honored by the Children’s Defense Fund of California with a “Beat the Odds” award at a star-studded event in Culver City last week. The award recognizes students who have overcome obstacles and adversity while achieving academic success. Each winner will receive a $10,000 college...