Judith Perez‘s 46 years with LA Unified came about through a random encounter in her early 20s. “I was not one of those people who knew at age five I would be a teacher,” she told LA School Report. After moving to Los Angeles in her early 20s and bouncing around a few unsatisfying jobs,...

By Gail Robinson When the 24 third-graders in Morgan Mercaldi’s class arrive at the Jackson Avenue School every morning, they take their iPads out of their backpacks and put them on their desks. The tablets will remain there, or in hands and laps, until the children put them in their packs to take them home....

While sitting LA Unified board members are combing through the latest budget proposal and wrapping up other end of the year activities, the newly-elected representatives are busy staffing up and hiring some familiar names. Scott Schmerelson, who replaces Tamar Galatzan as the District 3 representative on July 1, has named Arlene Irlando as his Chief of Staff....

By Elizabeth A. Harris Students are not the only ones struggling to pass new standardized tests being rolled out around the country. So are those who want to be teachers. Concerned that education schools were turning out too many middling graduates, states have been introducing more difficult teacher licensing exams. Perhaps not surprisingly, passing rates have...

LA Unified school board Vice President Steve Zimmer was honored recently by the Los Angeles Food Policy Council for his efforts in getting the district to take a more progressive approach to food purchasing.  The council developed the Good Food Purchasing Program, which LA Unified adopted in 2012 and strengthened in late 2014 with two “Good Food” resolutions that Zimmer...

Aspire Public Schools, which operates 10 independent charter schools in LA Unified, today named Carolyn Hack as its new CEO. Hack, who is chief financial and operating officer for Uncommon Schools in New York, will replace outgoing CEO James Willcox, who is stepping down in September. “We are delighted that Carolyn Hack will be the next leader of Aspire,” Aspire...

The LA Unified board yesterday provided a closer look at how the district plans to spend next year’s $7.1 billion budget, including a windfall of $415 million that is expected to cover ongoing costs and to expand priorities established through community engagement called the Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP). The board meeting was the final...

By Eilene Zimmerman Andrea and I sat cramped around a little two-top table at a Starbucks near her apartment, materials from her U.S. government class spread out before us. The handouts were photocopied news articles about teenagers pursuing The American Dream, the topic of an essay Andrea was writing. There was the Somali “Lost Boy”...