A new initiative called Los Angeles Promise Neighborhoods, six years in the making, finally launched this month. Headed by the Youth Policy Institute (or YPI), it aims to serve 18,000 kids in two neighborhoods — Hollywood and Pacoima — and hopes to expand even further in the future. The idea behind LA’s Promise Neighborhoods is...

After nine months of hearings and amendments, legislation aimed to quicken and streamline teacher dismissal procedures failed to pass in the Senate Education Committee by one vote. The Chair of the Senate Education Committee Carol Liu (D-Glendale) — the only LA-area lawmaker on the committee — decided not to vote for or against the bill...

Nearly a year after its launch last October, LA Unified’s “Arts at the Core” plan is getting a serious boost to help bring more music, dance, theater and visual arts back into arts-depleted classrooms thanks to a three-year, $750,000 initiative by the LA Fund. Since 2008, LAUSD arts programs have been cut by 41 percent,...

The unions that represent LAUSD teachers and administrators have sent the School Board a letter raising “a concern” over controversial comments Superintendent John Deasy made to LA School Report in June.  Last month, following a decision by the Board to postpone voting on a motion by Tamar Galatzan to allow schools greater autonomy over how...

Newly elected Board President Dr. Richard Vladovic has retained the services of political consultant Mike Trujillo as a short-term communications deputy and strategist. Closely following Vladovic’s election as Board President, the move could  represent Vladovic’s intention to improve his relationship with the media. “I think Dr. Vladovic understands that his role of being Board President means...

For those interested in a behind-the-scenes look into LA’s charter school movement, check out the TEACH (Transparency, Equity, Accountability for Charters) event this Thursday: “We are NOT trying to shut down charter schools,” said TEACH hosts, Robin Potash, Susan Philips, Sharon Stricker, Danny Feingold, Rabbi Jonathan Klein and former LAUSD School Board President Jackie Goldberg. “We...

More than a week after they first surfaced in the LA Daily News, we still don’t know very much about the harassment and employee abuse allegations being investigated against Board member Richard Vladovic. According to LAUSD, Board members cannot “impeach” a colleague, but there is a 2003-approved code of conduct covering Board member behavior towards...

Many Los Angeles Unified students who need to make up a failed class, or just want to get ahead by taking summer school, are out of luck, according to a new report by the Daily News. For the second year in a row, the district is only able to scrape together $1 million for the...