LA School Report

Via SI&A Cabinet Report | By Kimberly Beltran California charter schools operating out of privately-owned buildings may use the public tax dollars generated by a 2012 ballot measure to make energy-efficient upgrades to those facilities, state officials said late last week. Rules for dispersing the money from Proposition 39 – half of which is dedicated...

Stanford teams with teacher union CTA to train for Common Core Stanford University is joining with CTA to prepare schools for new learning goals that will change the way California students are taught and tested. Los Angeles Times Sam Walton’s granddaughter has plans to fix public education Carrie Walton Penner is arguably the most powerful...

Announcing the next phase of the digital device program to buy more iPads and Chromebooks was the easy part. Carrying it out is another issue. While LA Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines was pretty clear on how he expected it to proceed, others in the district are not so sure. The district’s Chief Facilities Director says...

A man known for aggressive and sometimes belligerent public comments at LA Unified school board meetings was arrested outside a board committee meeting at district headquarters on Oct. 28 and charged with three misdemeanor counts of making “annoying” phone calls to board member Tamar Galatzan months before. The man, George Buzzetti, 67, has been speaking...

Via The Los Angeles Times | By The Editorial Board The sexual abuse of students at Miramonte Elementary School was creepy beyond measure, involving a “game” in which third-graders were blindfolded and fed cookies tainted with their teacher’s semen. But the astonishing $139-million legal settlement — on top of an earlier $30 million settlement with...

LAUSD expert argues girl with low IQ may suffer less after assault A psychologist hired by LAUSD testified that a 9-year-old girl’s low IQ provided a “protective factor” from a sexual assault. KPCC Before LAUSD travel ban, Deasy flew 100k miles last year Former LA Unified Superintendent John Deasy traveled more than 100,000 miles last...

As if the recent efforts to fix MiSiS weren’t enough, LA Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines has called the feds. In an email to school board members and their staffs on Friday, Cortines said U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, offered the district a lifeline. “I spoke with Secretary Duncan today regarding various issues related to...

A decision by LA Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines to proceed with the next phase of the district’s controversial iPad program appears to contradict statements he made a month ago, opposing the use of construction bond money to pay for devices pre-loaded with curriculum. Three days ago, Cortines gave the go-ahead to spend capital improvement funds...

Via The Hechinger Report | By Peter Cunningham Whether the little guy was a Kansas farmer whose earnings were manipulated by commodities traders in Chicago, a woman denied the right to vote, an underpaid working man seeking union representation, blacks oppressed by segregation, or a low-level civil servant forced to pay homage to a powerful political...