LA School Report

Six years ago the LA Unified School Board approved a program to build affordable “workforce housing” for teachers to live closer to schools where they work. But now, with one project nearing completion and two others in the planning stages, the district concedes that it has absolutely no control over who gets to live there,...

* UPDATED Alex Johnson has opened what is likely an insurmountable fund raising lead over the six other candidates running for the open LA Unified school board. With the June 3 special election just 11 days away, he has raised $208,625 through the reporting period that ended last Saturday, according to the LA City Ethics...

Top candidates for state schools chief in close money race The top contenders to be the state’s public schools chief are neck-and-neck in campaign funds leading into the June primary, according to finance reports filed Thursday. Current state superintendent Tom Torlakson has just under $200,000 in the bank for the final stretch of the campaign....

It now appears that just the specter of a “Parent Trigger” action is enough for parents to get what they want. Lerina Cordero, mother of a first grade boy at West Athens Elementary in south Los Angeles, says parents there had been trying for years to get the school’s leadership to stop rampant bullying and...

* UPDATED In a major policy shift, the LA Unified school district will no longer require teachers under investigation to report to so-called “teacher jails.” Instead, teachers will be allowed to go home, with the understanding that they must remain there during their working hours unless they are summoned elsewhere as part of the investigation.The...

With less than two weeks before the special election to fill a vacant seat on the Los Angeles Unified school board, two candidates appear to be leading the field of seven, suggesting the probability of an August runoff. People familiar with two separate but consistent polls of likely voters conducted by professional firms said the two...

Racial tensions are rising at Watts middle school Fanning racial tensions at a Watts middle school, several African American parents asserted Wednesday that Latino administrators are unfairly targeting their children and unofficially suspending them from classes. The practices at Markham Middle School, parents said, contradict directives by the Los Angeles Board of Education and L.A....

Three teams of business-savvy LAUSD students competed last night in Hollywood for the chance to win cash prizes and a bid in a national competition for young aspiring entrepreneurs. Hosted by the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE LA), a nonprofit that offers entrepreneurial education to low-income LA unified students, the competition took place at the...

A librarian and teacher at John F. Kennedy High School, Leslie Garcia, is back at school shortly after being removed over allegations that she mishandled and manipulated the record-keeping of an after school provider, ARC. Garcia said she had “no comment” after LA School Report contacted her yesterday at the school library. Principal Suzanne Blake,...

L.A. Unified hires respected D.C. principal to lead arts education The leader of one of the nation’s top arts high schools has accepted a position in charge of arts education for the Los Angeles Unified School District. Rory Pullens, 56, has served as head of school and chief executive officer at the Duke Ellington School...