A new LA Unified police diversion program, which replaces arrests with counseling, is keeping hundreds of students out of the city’s criminal justice system. “If we didn’t have this program, a lot would have gone into a courtroom and before a judge,” said LAUSD police chief Steven Zipperman, in a presentation yesterday to the district’s school...

By Jasmine Garsd It’s been a year since thousands of unaccompanied minors surged into the U.S., overwhelming some school districts. These children, many of whom don’t speak English and have lived through violence, trauma and abuse, pose a serious challenge to schools. Some districts weren’t ready. Oakland, Calif., was. It was spring of 2014, well...

LA Unified plant managers are putting together a things-to-do list for every school in the district to prepare for a possible record El Niño. Everything from cleaning out gutters to replacing a roof could help schools weather a strong storm system that is forecast to start this winter and last through spring. The concerns were...

Folks, this one was down… to… the… wire! Our poll asking readers to share their opinions on the Broad Foundation‘s massive charter expansion plan got lots of votes and even some national attention (thank you, Diane Ravitch). In the end, it was a virtual tie between readers responding with answers that strongly favored the Broad...

In a room set to accommodate 300, fewer than 50 signed in at the Roybal Learning Center auditorium last night to give their input into what they want to see in LA Unified’s next superintendent. “We are just beginning,”  said Hank Gmitro, president of the firm conducting the search, Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates. “We provide...

The California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) will be seeking an injunction in Los Angeles County Superior Court to stop what it says is illegal interference by officials at Alliance College-Ready Public Schools against a unionization effort by some of its teachers. The LA teachers union, UTLA, is currently attempting to unionize the teachers at...

The LA teachers union, UTLA, organized a press conference at at Hamilton High School in Palms yesterday to draw attention to what it says is overcrowding in classrooms at the school. The press conference featured parents, teachers and students. “If we don’t get the quality education that we need to succeed, then we are being set...

It all begins tonight, the chance for people around the city to weigh in what they want in the next LA Unified superintendent. The first of a series of meetings around the districts is scheduled for 6 pm at the Roybal Learning Center Auditorium, 1200 Colton St. More meetings are scheduled over the next two weeks in...

*UPDATED While classmates were at the beach, the mall or the park, about 150 LA Unified high school students spent part of their Saturday dowtown at the United Way of Greater Los Angeles, taking part in a Youth Town Hall. The focus of the meeting was for the students to offer opinions on how the district...

By Anya Kamenetz Recently a neighborhood in Brooklyn made national headlines for a fight over public schools. Lots of affluent, mainly white families have been moving into new condos in the waterfront area called DUMBO, and the local elementary school is getting overcrowded. The city wants to redraw the zones in a way that would...