LA Unified Superintendent John Deasy used the resolution of the Mark Berndt molestation case to campaign for a new law that would make it easier to get rid of abusive teachers. Berndt, a Miramonte Elementary School teacher who was accused of abusing 23 students under the age of 14, pleaded no contest in court today and...

The LA Unified board voted on petitions for a number of charter schools at Tuesday’s meeting. Four requests were approved, one was denied while another current charter school’s status was suspended. Here’s the scorecard: Approved: Ánimo Avalon Charter Middle School, the Math and Science College Preparatory-East High School, the PUC Inspire Charter Academy Middle School, and...

When downtown’s 9th Street Elementary closed in 2010 to undergo construction on a gleaming new $54 million campus, its state academic rankings placed it among the lowest of the low, even among similar schools. Now, with a gorgeous new campus and ambitious new principal, the school represents a potential bright spot in a district beset...

Over the past few years, LA Unified has been implementing a plan to go green by installing solar power systems in 68 schools throughout the district. The plan was well underway last year, and as of today the district is still on track, with 59 schools now equipped with solar power systems and nine left...

Parents at Superior Street Elementary in Chatsworth last night pressed LA Unified officials to change district regulations so that the public is notified of sexual assaults on school campuses. At issue was a three-year-case that only came to light after the LA Times reported back in May that the district awarded damages of $1.4 million to...

I burned out after teaching for five years at a high school in a very low-income neighborhood. What made me burn out was not that so many of my students came in with reading skills several years behind their grade level. Nor was it that many of them also came in with a history of...

For the hundreds of teachers who packed a nearly block-long stretch of Beaudry Avenue in front of LA Unified headquarters late yesterday afternoon, the message to the superintendent was simple. “Hey, Deasy, baby, I want my money,” the red-shirted crowd sang in a hip-hop inspired chorus at a rally organized by UTLA in its ongoing...

LA Unified School board member Tamar Galatzan had hoped to sway her colleagues to change the way the district distributes Title 1 funds for low-income students. But her motion, co-sponsored by Monica Ratliff, failed to get majority support at yesterday’s board meeting. The vote was split, 3-3, with Galatzan, Ratliff and Steve Zimmer, all of...

The LA Unified school board re-calibrated its push for technology in the classroom last night, voting to continue into a second phase of its iPad plan but also to launch a pilot test of laptops among high school students. Further technology plans will depend on the outcome of a study. The decision — approved by...