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Commentary: Addressing inequality in Long Beach Unified through We The People High School
I grew up in Sudbury, Massachusetts, zip code 01776, home of the very first town meeting on this continent in 1649. My mother, a Daughter of the American Revolution, and my father, an immigrant from India, attended this town meeting monthly and instilled in me a deep sense of civic responsibility and civic engagement. These...
By Anita Ravi | October 29, 2018
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Taking your kid out of school for vacation? This California beach town asks parents to cough up the cash it loses for every absence
What’s the value of one day of school? While the learning and development that happen for each child may be priceless, at least one California district has put a monetary value on it. Manhattan Beach Unified School District, in Los Angeles’s tony South Bay, asks parents to make a $47 donation each time a student...
By Laura Fay | October 29, 2018
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LA parent voice: After-school tutoring, literacy programs, finding community partners — this mom has learned to ‘do whatever it takes’ to help English learners
Every week, we sit down with Los Angeles parents to talk about their students, their schools, and what questions or suggestions they have for their school district. (See our previous interviews.) Hilda Ávila has a very clear educational goal for her fourth-grade son this year: She wants him to move out of the English learner...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero | October 24, 2018
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Commentary: Educators, show your students the value of activism
Ask most adults when their U.S. history textbook stopped. Was it World War II? Maybe Korea? Perhaps it was the Vietnam War, but the last few chapters were rushed as you hurtled towards summer vacation. Then ask most adults what they know about the defining social and political movement of the modern era, the civil...
By Jeff Steinberg | October 24, 2018
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California’s campaign for state superintendent costs more than most Senate races. Here’s why
*Updated Oct. 31 The 2018 midterm elections, marked by a slate of tightly contested races and a furious backlash against President Trump, will be the most expensive in history. Both Democratic and Republican aspirants in large media markets like Florida and Illinois have smashed quarterly fundraising records, with outside groups vastly outspending the official campaigns. In California,...
By Kevin Mahnken | October 23, 2018
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Antonucci: How many new teachers are joining the California Teachers Association?
Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report. Long before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Janus v. AFSCME, public employee unions in California anticipated the loss of agency fees. Last year they persuaded the state legislature to pass Assembly Bill 119, which gave unions mandatory access to new employee orientations and required public employers...
By Mike Antonucci | October 23, 2018
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Unleashing the youth vote: Power California’s Luis Sánchez is bringing 25 years’ experience mobilizing young people to the polls this November — along with thousands of new voters
*Updated Oct. 22 Luis Sánchez has spent 25 years mobilizing young people in Los Angeles and across California to fight for educational justice, from gaining equal access to a more rigorous curriculum to reducing suspension rates. But he has learned that to release their real power, they need to vote. “If their generation doesn’t vote,...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero | October 22, 2018
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Hundreds of LAUSD high schoolers to cast their first ballots at this week’s ‘Ready to Vote Party’
This is the first year that early voting centers are open in California, and a group that is working to reach every young adult in Los Angeles County — and 100,000 throughout the state — is holding an early-vote party Wednesday that will draw hundreds of Los Angeles high schoolers. Students from seven LA high...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero | October 22, 2018
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Saturday school and 1,000 Rams tickets — how LAUSD is trying to turn around a stubborn attendance problem
*Updated Oct. 17 LA Unified is continuing to lose about $630 million a year because students aren’t coming to school. So this year, district officials are rethinking strategies and trying new ones, including Saturday school to make up lost days and handing out 1,000 tickets to Los Angeles Rams football games for students with excellent...
By Laura Greanias | October 17, 2018
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Commentary: A victory for education in the San Fernando Valley
Last month, the San Fernando Valley scored two big victories. The Los Angeles Unified School District board approved a petition by Granada Hills Charter (GHC) High School for its charter renewal and the establishment of a K-8 grade school. These developments are important steps toward creating opportunity for parents and their students while establishing a...
By Subrata Chakravarty | October 17, 2018