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City Year Los Angeles Hosting City Hall Kick-Off Event
City Year Los Angeles, an education-focused nonprofit, is hosting its annual kick-off event tomorrow morning at City Hall, with the guest list expected to include Mayor Eric Garcetti and LA Unified Superintendent John Deasy. The event celebrates the dedication of 282 young City Year leaders who will provide individual support and attention to students across...
By Chase Niesner | September 10, 2013
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Torlakson Rebuts Duncan, Defends State Testing Bill
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson today shot back at U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who expressed opposition to a bill in the California legislature that would eliminate statewide testing for a year while districts shift to new protocols aligned with Common Core. “This legislation will continue to be guided by what’s right...
By LA School Report | September 10, 2013
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Board Meets Today: Full Coverage
The LA Unified Board convenes at 1 p.m. today, with a long agenda of issues up for discussion and votes. LA School Report will be posting and Tweeting on the major developments, gavel to gavel. Stay with us all afternoon.
By LA School Report | September 10, 2013
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Duncan Kicks off Back-to-School Bus Tour through Southwest
The brightly colored tour bus adorned with furry creatures rolling across the southwest is not a mirage — it’s Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in his wheels of the week. Duncan kicked off the department’s “Strong Start, Bright Future,” back-to-school tour today in New Mexico, where he is touring classrooms and holding town hall meetings on everything from improving low-performing...
By Chase Niesner | September 9, 2013
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State To Defray Costs of Test Fees for Low-Income Students
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson announced today that the state will defray costs of Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) test fees for more than 129,000 low-income students across California. The $10.8 million, which will be distributed to school districts, represents nearly a third of the total funding distributed to states under the...
By Chase Niesner | September 9, 2013
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Zimmer Seeking State Help with Charter Co-location Rules
An emotionally-charged debate erupted at the last school board meeting over the co-location of a charter on the campus of an elementary school in Boyle Heights. Parents of public school students at Lorena Street Elementary School were furious that the school was forced to relinquish space to accommodate Extera 2, a charter school, because of Proposition...
By Vanessa Romo | September 9, 2013
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Deasy, Board Plunging Back into Turbulent Budget Waters
Meeting tomorrow for the second time in the new school year, the LA Unified school board will plunge back into a thorny debate over how to spend millions of new dollars flowing into the district from the state. It might not be pretty. Superintendent John Deasy is expected to respond to the board’s June directive to...
By Hillel Aron | September 9, 2013
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Rhee and Friends Urge Union Teachers to Get Active on Reform
Michelle Rhee, the former Chancellor of Washington, D.C. public schools and a lightning rod for education reform, played to her audience of LA area teachers during a panel discussion last night at the Los Angeles Central Library, telling them that teachers need to be part of any debate about reform. “I definitely think that teachers...
By Vanessa Romo | September 6, 2013
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Board Members Seeking to Ease Requirements for Volunteers
Three LA Unified board members are directing Superintendent John Deasy to develop a plan that makes it easier and less expensive for volunteers to work in district schools. In a resolution on the board’s agenda for its meeting Tuesday, the members – Tamar Galatzan, Steve Zimmer and Monica Garcia – expressed concern that recent budget...
By Chase Niesner | September 6, 2013
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Teachers Union Files Two More Unfair Labor Practice Charges*
The teachers union has filed two unfair labor practice charges with the Public Employment Relations Board (or PERB) against the Los Angeles Unified School District over 12 teachers who have been removed from two different schools – one at City of Angels and 11 at Crenshaw High. UTLA president Warren Fletcher said at a...
By Hillel Aron | September 5, 2013