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A similar past, a hoped-for future: Two lawyers each strive to open their own LA charter schools
Update: Los Angeles County’s board of education on Tuesday denied Denon Carr’s charter application but urged him to make changes to the proposal and resubmit it as quickly as possible to either the Inglewood School Board or the state board. Carr says he will appeal, though he is not yet sure to which entity. For...
By Beth Hawkins | October 16, 2017
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New data: Where are the charter schools in LAUSD?
LA Unified has more charter schools than any other school district in the nation, and an internal report presented this week had some interesting facts, including where most of them are located. Although common thought among some parents is that independent charter schools are located in wealthier communities, the statistics show that more than half...
By Mike Szymanski | October 5, 2017
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Commentary: The 3 steps of co-creating an agenda with parents to achieve powerful, enduring change in education systems
Who owns the agenda for education change? It is not uncommon (and in fact it is encouraging) to hear education reformers proclaim: “We need to see parents exercise their power on education to achieve ‘X’!” But ‘X’ is often the agenda the speaker has — with good intentions — set. It may not be the...
By Alex Cortez and Yordanos Eyoel | October 4, 2017
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‘A breakdown of the partnership’: LAUSD board denies high-performing charter school’s renewal
The LA Unified school board on Tuesday unanimously denied a renewal petition for a high-performing charter school, citing a breakdown of communication between the school and the district’s Charter Schools Division. Officials from Lashon Academy had tried to negotiate with the district around its special education policies, but the district said the charter school’s petition...
By Sarah Favot and Mike Szymanski | October 3, 2017
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‘Exorbitant’ fees for a ‘dearth’ of special education services — An LA school may lose its charter for fighting back against LAUSD policies
An independent charter school says LA Unified charges too much for special education services and offers too little, so it wants to hold onto the option to get those services elsewhere. But because the San Fernando Valley school hasn’t indicated who will provide those services — and hasn’t promised to use LA Unified’s — it...
By Sarah Favot | October 2, 2017
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10 LA-area schools are awarded National Blue Ribbons; KIPP wins third in a row
Delivering a promise of college access to their students and having high expectations led four schools authorized by LA Unified — two of them independent charter schools with more than 90 percent of their students Latino and low-income — to be selected as 2017 National Blue Ribbon Schools. The distinction, announced Thursday by the U.S...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero | September 28, 2017
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One of LA’s first inner-city charter schools celebrates 20 years — and is proud to keep ‘Watts’ in its name
*UPDATED When Gene Fisher opened an independent public charter school in September 1997 in Watts, it shared a one-room bungalow in a housing project with the Urban League State Preschool. Fisher quickly realized that recruiting kids from rival gangs was not going to happen. So he moved his two kindergarten students and tiny staff, ending...
By Mike Szymanski | September 11, 2017
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The trailblazers: Of the first 40 charter schools in LAUSD, half are still open
California school districts started authorizing independent charter schools in 1993. The reformers who created them were inspired to try a different model of public education — one they believed had the potential to better serve disadvantaged, low-income students who were disproportionately stuck in lower-performing schools. Public charter schools were granted flexibilities to have a longer...
By Mike Szymanski | September 11, 2017
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Celerity charter revamps management structure and seeks approval by LAUSD and state board next week
Celerity Educational Group, which operates seven Los Angeles-area independent charter schools, has untangled its complicated management structure that had been the subject of a lengthy investigation by LA Unified. Next week, the LA Unified school board will vote on material revisions to the charters of the four Celerity schools it oversees which spell out the new management...
By Mike Szymanski | September 7, 2017
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Commentary: Communities must hold school boards, authorizers accountable to ensure quality education
By James L. Woodworth The ultimate goal for an education system is to enable individuals to become happy, engaged, productive members of society. Unfortunately, at this time, measuring happiness, productivity, and civil contribution of individuals is difficult. Tracing those measurements back to the schools attended by an individual is practically impossible. Thus, researchers and other...
By Guest Contributors | August 17, 2017