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Student-led forum questions District 2 candidates on Trump policies, bullying and safety

High school students moderated a forum of the three candidates in the District 2 school board race on Friday night in front of a capacity crowd of 200, with 100 more students waiting to get in. The candidates were asked how they plan to battle Trump administration policies, help underperforming and underprivileged youth, increase the...
By Mike Szymanski | February 12, 2017
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Meet an LAUSD school board candidate — District 2’s Lisa Alva: ‘I want to bring a teacher voice’

LA School Report covers the 2017 LAUSD school board race: See all 13 candidate profiles Name: Lisa Alva Board district: 2 Age: 55 Lives: in childhood home in El Sereno Job: English teacher at Bravo Medical Magnet High School Marital status: engaged LAUSD schools attended: Multnomah Street Elementary, El Sereno Jr. High, Wilson High School...
By Sarah Favot | February 10, 2017
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California, LA continue to falter on federal foster youth education deadline

By Daniel Heimpel, The Chronicle of Social Change The California Department of Education “derailed” local education agencies’ efforts to ensure transportation for students in foster care, imperiling a $1.8 billion federal grant aimed at poor students, according to an email shared with The Chronicle and an education administrator in San Diego. This while Los Angeles County’s Board of Supervisors...
By Guest contributor | February 10, 2017
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Meet an LAUSD school board candidate — District 6’s Patty López: ‘Parent involvement is key in our kids’ education’

LA School Report covers the 2017 LAUSD school board race: See all 13 candidate profiles Name: Patty López Board district: 6 Age: 49 Job: community activist in the San Fernando Valley Married: to Juan Lopez, supervisor for an electronic company Children in LAUSD: She has four children who attended LAUSD schools and four grandchildren. Her first three children graduated from San...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero | February 9, 2017
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Friedrichs 2.0: New lawsuit by 8 teachers challenges mandatory dues paid to California union

The lawyers who challenged union fees in the high-stakes Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association case have filed a new lawsuit in hopes of achieving a decisive Supreme Court victory — a result denied to them last year when a tie vote left mandatory dues in place. The Center for Individual Rights filed Yohn v. California Teachers Association on Monday. The...
By Kate Stringer | February 9, 2017
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Meet an LAUSD school board candidate — District 6’s Imelda Padilla: ‘I am a true product of this community’

LA School Report covers the 2017 LAUSD school board race: See all 13 candidate profiles Name: Imelda Padilla Board district: 6 Age: 29 Job: Community organizer for Pacoima Beautiful, then with the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, and started her own nonprofit Together We Do More, which aims to help middle and high school students start to think...
By Mike Szymanski | February 8, 2017
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Despite ‘Herculean efforts’ to conserve, LAUSD’s utility bill could jump $36 million

Last year LA Unified board members were shocked to learn that higher utility rates could jack up the district’s utility bill by $24 million. So they swung into action with energy-saving measures. But on Tuesday they learned they could be facing even steeper increases — up to 50 percent more. Even with a 13 percent...
By Mike Szymanski | February 8, 2017
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NAACP should be supporting, not fighting, charters
*UPDATED By Johnathan Williams In light of the seemingly endless civil rights violations in the news daily, I was shocked to see our premier civil rights organization, the NAACP, call for a moratorium on the most effective vehicle for delivering better educational outcomes than our traditional school systems. As a man, who happens to be African-American,...
By Guest contributor | February 8, 2017
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Keeping kids out of the justice system and in school: Youth services program looks to LAUSD to help fund Valley expansion

The only pre-arrest juvenile diversion program in California is seeking nearly $1 million to expand into the San Fernando Valley, so its leaders came Tuesday to the cash-strapped LA Unified to ask for about half of it. Although four of the seven school board members at the budget committee meeting spoke positively about the program, they...
By Mike Szymanski | February 7, 2017
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Betsy DeVos confirmed as education secretary after historic tie-breaking vote from VP, unrelenting opposition

Betsy DeVos is, after weeks of public outcry, marathon Senate speeches and the narrowest and sharpest of partisan vote margins, the eleventh U.S. secretary of education. In a pro-forma and decidedly undramatic endnote, Vice President Mike Pence cast the tie-breaking “aye” to confirm DeVos, 51-50 at 12:30 p.m., marking the first time ever a vice...
By Carolyn Phenicie | February 7, 2017