Starting tomorrow, LAUSD teachers will vote on whether or not to adopt the “Initiative for the Schools LA Students Deserve,” which would have UTLA make a series of demands including higher pay, an end to school reconstitution, and stronger advocacy for these demands. But that’s not the only decision teachers will have to make.  On...

LAUSD Teachers Set to Vote on Confidence in District, Union Policies Los Angeles Unified’s 40,000 teachers will be polled next month on their confidence in Superintendent John Deasy and whether they want their union to ratchet up demands for higher pay, smaller classes and an end to many of the district’s reforms. LA Daily News...

LAUSD watchers began speculating about who the next School Board President might be almost as soon as the results of the March 5th LAUSD primary election were known. The issue gained further immediacy when the School Board voted 4-3 this Tuesday to limit the term of President to two years. Unless the Board votes to waive the...

The teachers union’s on-again, off-again plan to survey its members on what they think about LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy’s job performance is back on again. However, this time around the union has a much stronger idea of what kinds of negative views its members should express. The union first mentioned in January that it planned...

Dramatic Dip in ‘Pink Slips’ Given to Teachers Reports are still trickling in, but the number could be as low as 2,600 notices statewide – down 87 percent from the 20,000 “pink slips” issued last year and just a 10th of the 26,000 notices issued in 2010, the peak during the recession, according to the California...

Expressing concern about increasing divisiveness between LAUSD and the teachers union, the LA Times editorial page calls for a more thoughtful, balanced approach to making much-needed improvements, including a proposal for LAUSD to make student achievement less than 30 percent of teacher evaluations: “We don’t know what heft test scores should have in performance reviews —...

Rather than focusing on the school board election and the preservation of a superintendency, the coalition and the union should have attended to building a new education system in Sacramento and Washington, where the money and power reside.  — Claremont University professor Charles Taylor Kerchner in the LA Times.

Teachers Union to Vote on Aggressive Stand Against Deasy Policies The Los Angeles teachers union has scheduled an April vote for an initiative that would, if passed, call for a more aggressive posture against the leadership of the L.A. Unified School District. LA Times The Wrong Fight Over Schools Over the last century, American public...

Before and during a Wednesday evening education event held at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, a tired-looking Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa expressed frustration about the previous day’s election results — and pledged to keep working on school reform issues even after his term expires. “Obviously I was disappointed with the results in the fourth district,” Villaraigosa told LA School...

LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy and UTLA President Warren Fletcher both sat down separately with KPCC’s “Take Two” radio program to discuss their post-election reactions and visions for the future of LA schools. Listen to the Deasy interview here and the Fletcher interview here. Highlights from Deasy’s interview include his reaction to Steve Zimmer’s win over Kate Anderson in District...