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Editorial: It is time for California to rethink the parent trigger law

By The Editorial Board Five years after California’s parent-trigger law was passed, it has not had the dramatic effect on public schools that its proponents hoped it would. Yet it is already at a crossroads in its young life. The law, passed in haste in 2010 in an effort to empower parents at lower-performing schools,...
By LA School Report | August 3, 2015
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Commentary: LAUSD board meeting lost in transparency

For more than a year, students, parents, community groups and even LA Unified members, themselves, have demanded greater transparency in how the board conducts the business of the nation’s second-largest school district. Too often, critics say, the board moves with no apparent effort to broaden the conversation or even allow the public to watch the...
By Michael Janofsky | July 31, 2015
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Students face LAUSD board, demanding end to military weapons

The LA Unified board endured a long and unusual protest last night as about 50 students demanded specific actions to get military-style weapons out of the hands of district school police. The students, some of them wearing bullet-proof vests, chanted for 20 minutes at the start of a meeting — “Back to school, no weapons”...
By Mike Szymanski | July 31, 2015
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LAUSD board votes to request bids for superintendent search

The LA Unified board voted last night to start the search for a new superintendent by issuing a request for bids to firms that would aide in the selection process. The move is the first step toward identifying candidates to replace the current superintendent, Ramon Cortines, who has expressed a desire to step down by...
By Mike Szymanski | July 31, 2015
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Survey: Majority of students feel unprepared for college, careers

By Fermin Leal More than half of high school juniors and seniors across the country don’t feel they’re ready for college and careers, even though these remain top goals for students, according to a survey released Thursday. Results from a multi-year College and Career Readiness survey of 165,000 high school students conducted by YouthTruth, a San Francisco-based nonprofit,...
By LA School Report | July 31, 2015
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Morning Read: AP U.S. history course gets a ‘positive’ revision

Revised AP U.S. history standards will emphasize American exceptionalism The move comes after significant pushback from conservatives who claimed the redesigned course fpainted American history in too negative a light. Newsweek San Diego Unified’s had some dark days with solar Despite its struggles with solar so far, the district is preparing to ramp up its...
By LA School Report | July 31, 2015
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LIVESTREAM coverage of today’s LA Unified school board meeting

* UPDATED LA Unified decided not to live-stream any of the meeting. The LA Unified school board is meeting today at 6 p.m. The board will first meet in open session before moving into a closed-door meeting, in which the discussion includes how to search for a new superintendent. Only the open session will be...
By LA School Report | July 30, 2015
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Qualifications for serving on the Alabama ed board? None, apparently

For all the criticism they might endure, California education officials are rarely accused of being unqualified for their jobs. That’s not quite the case in Alabama. The state’s Republican governor, Robert Bentley, is under fire for filling a vacancy on the state’s board of education with someone who lacks any credentials or background in education....
By Craig Clough | July 30, 2015
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Civil rights group unsatisfied with LA school police’s demilitarization

Superintendent Ramon Cortines of LA Unified confirmed in June that the district’s police force has ended its involvement in a federal program that delivered military-grade weapons to school districts. The decision on the so-called 1033 Program came on the heels of President Obama‘s announcement in May that he was severely restricting the parameters of the program. The response...
By Craig Clough | July 30, 2015
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Teachers see diversity lesson in new documentary of old Boyle Heights

A new documentary — focusing on the ethnic mix of Boyle Heights and how the construction of a freeway nearly destroyed the neighborhood — is drawing the attention of educators as a way show how the east LA neighborhood once stood as a monument to diversity and community strength. “East LA Interchange” debuted at a...
By Mike Szymanski | July 30, 2015