LA School Report

While George McKenna remained relatively quiet at his first board meeting this week, he has spoken loudly on one issue: He intends to run again for the District 1 seat next year. Records show that he filed a Declaration of Intent To Solicit And Receive Contributions with the City Ethics Commission last week, a move...

Via Metro Trends Blog | by Reed Jordan Fifty million children will start school this week as historic changes are under way in the U.S. public school system. As of 2011, 48 percent of all public school students were “poor” and this year, students of color will account for the majority of public school students...

With last weekend’s 6.0 earthquake in Napa County as the latest reminder of the need for earthquake preparedness, LA Unified is progressing slowly in retrofitting school buildings deemed vulnerable. In accordance with a state law known as AB 300, the district in 2006 conducted a seismic evaluation and identified 667 buildings constructed before 1976 that required possible...

LA schools’ audit finds computers stolen, missing, unaccounted for An audit of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s computer inventory reveals 230 devices worth nearly $200,000 have been stolen or are missing – and school officials can’t account for another 3,105 laptops, desktops and iPads. KPCC Emails prompt LA schools’ inspector general to reopen iPad...

Among the non-iPad and MiSiS issues before the LA Unified board yesterday was approving the hiring of Ruth Pérez as the deputy superintendent of instruction. The vote was 6-0, with Monica Ratliff abstaining. Most recently superintendent of  Norwalk-La Mirada school district, Perez has also served as a teacher and administrator in Florida and as chief...

It’s long. It’s detailed. And it’s dry. But here it is, LA Unified board member Monica Ratliff’s report to her colleagues on the work of The Common Core Technology Project Ad Hoc Committee. She was chair. By now, most people know the iPad program didn’t go swimmingly, leading Superintendent John Deasy to suspend it this...

*UPDATED A new report by the California Charter Schools Association shows a growing gap between the overall school performance of traditional schools and charter schools in LA Unified. The report — Portrait of the Movement — says LA Unified charter schools, on average, produce stronger test results than traditional schools in the district. The data...

It might be the new school year, but it was a series of old problems awaiting the LA Unified school board yesterday as it met long into the night with a full complement of seven members for the first time in eight months. After the swearing in of newly-elected District 1 member George McKenna, a...

Calls grow for wider inquiry into L.A. Unified iPad project A day after Los Angeles Unified abruptly suspended the contract for its controversial iPad project, there were growing calls for a more thorough investigation into whether the bidding process for the $1-billion program was improperly handled. LA Times Can Supt. Deasy survive LAUSD’s iPad fiasco?...

The LA Unified Board meeting reconvenes today with a full compliment of members. The board now includes a representative from District 1, George McKenna, who was sworn in earlier in the day. He is replacing the late Marguerite LaMotte. Among the items for discussion are a review of the district’s labor contracts, a handful of...