LA School Report

Last Friday afternoon in his office high up on the 24th floor of  the district’s downtown headquarters, LAUSD superintendent John Deasy seemed both excited about the school year that had just started and also clear about the realities of the complex task ahead of him. Deasy taught math and science before becoming an administrator and then a...

Rumors are flying fast and furious about Assembly Bill 5, a proposed amendment to the Stull Act offered by San Fernando Valley Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes. The latest word from EdSource is that AB 5 is being revised slightly to try and mollify opponents and also to help make the state eligible for a No Child Left...

Prop 30 Is a Ransom Note. But Should We Pay It Anyway? NBC / Prop Zero: Structured around a budget that would trigger big cuts to schools and universities in the event it loses in November, Prop 30 takes California’s kids, and future, hostage, and demands payment. Fuentes agrees to compromises on AB 5: Are they enough? Ed Source: At...

• A tale of two headlines: Results of the California High School Exit Exam were released yesterday, and for LAUSD there’s good news and bad news, reflected in two headlines: The LA Times has it like this: “Two-thirds of sophomores pass exit exam, a record high for LAUSD”. Wonderful news! But the Daily News says: “LAUSD trails...

Last week I tweeted out the arrival of Atul Gawande’s recent New Yorker article about what the medical industry could learn from the restaurant chain called the Cheesecake Factory, suggesting that maybe there were things that the education industry could learn from the article as well: “Our costs are soaring, the service is typically mediocre, and...

• Yes on 30 up, Yes on 38 down: A USC poll finds that 54.5% of likely voters support Proposition 30, Governor Brown’s tax hike to spare public schools from budget cuts. Only 40% support Molly Munger’s measure, Prop 38, which raises even more revenue. (Via John Myers) The LAUSD board voted yesterday to support both measures....

Martin Sandoval was the principal of Miramonte Elementary last year during the horrific sexual abuse scandal that included teacher Mark Berndt. As Scott Johnson notes on the blog Mayor Sam, Sandoval was reassigned to Sierra Park Elementary in El Sereno. Johnson spotted this angry Facebook post from a Sierra Park parent: Friends i am horrified…Superintendent Deasy…SHAME ON U..Some1...

Tomorrow, the Sacramento-based school reform advocacy group Ed Voice will have a full-page ad (seen on the left, click to enlarge) in the LA Times calling on the state legislature and Governor Jerry Brown to oppose AB 5. The Felipe Fuentes-sponsored bill would make all teacher evaluations subject to collective-bargaining agreements. A number of other...

This morning, the school board unanimously and without discussion passed a symbolic resolution in support of both Propositions 30 and 38, two separate state ballot measures that would raise taxes to fund education. Then, for good measure, when the board came back at noon after a closed session, it voted to pass two additional symbolic...

• Fired LAUSD teacher pleads no-contest to molesting 13 students: Paul Chapel III, a former teacher at Telfair Elementary school, will serve 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to 13 out of 28 charges. Daily News • Cal State University to enroll more out-of-state and international students: The move will save money, since California students payer lower tuition rates. KPCC...