Editor’s note: In the LA Times yesterday, Diane Ravitch argued passionately that the future of public education in Los Angeles depends on whom the LA Unified board selects as its next superintendent. She wrote, “The ideal superintendent would have the courage, and the support of the board, to resist those who seek to undermine and...

By Clifton D. Parker California’s tough new vaccination law is legally sound and will serve as a model for how to keep children healthy, Stanford professors say. On June 25, California Gov. Jerry Brown approved a new state law (SB277) that substantially narrows exceptions to school-entry vaccination mandates. In doing so, California becomes the third...

The Math, Science & Technology Magnet Academy at Theodore Roosevelt High School became the first school in the state to win national recognition for leveraging technology. It is also the first time that a school with a predominantly Latino student body received the honor from the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA), according to Eastern...

LA Unified’s efforts at reforming its school discipline policies were applauded at a White House national conference yesterday attended by school administrators from around the country. The day-long “Rethink Discipline” conference held up LA Unified as one of five districts that has seen positive results by moving away from “zero tolerance” disciplinary rules. LA Unified board...

For anyone bemoaning current trends in state public education, hold your complaints, at least until tomorrow. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson has scheduled an event downtown at the LA Area Chamber of Commerce to unveil “a new action plan,” that his office says will provide “the steps to take in the next four years...

By Lenore Skenazy Back in 2009, the parenting site Babble listed the top 50 “mom” blogs in America—funniest, most fashionable, etc., and “most controversial.” That would be my blog, Free-Range Kids. Then it was voted most controversial again, a year later. What crazy idea was I pushing? Don’t vaccinate your kids? Clobber them when they cry?...

The LA Unified board has scheduled a special meeting next week to initiate discussions on how to conduct the search for a successor to Superintendent Ray Cortines, who has expressed a desire to step down by December. “The board will meet on July 30 to start just the technical part of the [search] process,” board president Steve...

A state lawmaker is challenging California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson‘s recent assertion that grants intended to help low-income, English learners and foster youth can be used for across-the-board teacher raises. Assemblymember Shirley Weber, a Democrat from San Diego, says Torlakson’s interpretation of the law could completely erode the purpose of the grants, opening...

A 28-year-old female teacher has been arrested on suspicion of sexual abusing one of her students at San Pedro High School. Michelle Yeh, who was on temporary assignment in the science department of the school during the past spring semester, was arrested Friday after a 15-year-old male student claimed she had abused him on several...

* UPDATED A wave of angry complaints by parents of students at a small elementary school has succeeded in convincing LA Unified to replace a principal whom the parents described as unfit for the job. The parents at Mid-City’s Prescott School of Enriched Sciences Magnet Elementary School, one of the district’s original four magnet schools, gathered 119...