A former superintendent of the El Monte City School District today became the latest defense witness in Vergara v California to describe how school administrators can work within state laws to craft policies and strategies for dealing with ineffective teachers. Jeff Seymour, who spent 25 years as the superintendent, told the court that a well-defined...

After the LA Unified board denied renewals last month for two high-performing charter public schools in southeast Los Angeles — Aspire Antonio Maria Lugo Academy and Aspire Ollin University Preparatory Academy — the schools vowed to fight on. They filed an appeal with the LA County Board of Education and now have a public hearing scheduled March...

The defense in the Vergara vs. California trial got a boost today from witnesses involved with three different school districts – Riverside, La Habra and Long Beach — each describing how collaboration and professional development helps deal with ineffective teachers without any difficulties from the challenged laws in the case. Susan Mills, Assistant Superintendent of...

The field of candidates for LA Unified’s vacant District 1 seat can only reach eight. An update from the LA City Clerk’s office today indicated that Alison Noel, who described herself as an “Educator Advocate/Engineer” on her filing form, produced an “insufficient” petition to get her name on the ballot for the June 3 special...

LA Unified school board hopeful Alex Johnson kicked off his campaign last night at a west side home, filled with elected officials, education advocates and political funders. “We’ve waited long enough.” Johnson told the room of supporters. “We can’t leave a generation of kids behind… every child should have an opportunity to succeed, to graduate from...

A member of the San Diego Unified School District board testified today in the Vergara v California trial that the district increased student achievement scores while managing deep budgetary cutbacks. Richard Barrera, who has served on the board since 2008, told the court that he attributed the academic gains to creating “a culture of collaboration...

In her first public comments since a rival in the LA Unified school board race accused her of falsifying her resume, Genethia Hudley-Hayes told LA School Report today she considers the allegations to be “mudslinging” in an effort “to bully” her out of the race. “I will not be bullied,” she said, of the charges from Alex...

The original field of 13 candidates vying for the vacant LA Unified school board seat just got smaller. Thirteen had expressed interest in the South LA District 1 race, but by the 5 p.m. deadline today, only nine filed the required petitions to stay in the race. The June 3 special election was called after...

The race for LA Unified’s open board seat took a dramatic turn today as Alex Johnson’s campaign accused a rival, Genethia Hudley-Hayes, of “deliberately falsifying” her academic credentials. Roy Behr, Johnson’s political consultant, said research into her background found discrepancies in her resume and, in a meeting yesterday with his counterpart in the Hudley-Hayes campaign, Parke...