Mediator Don Raska has been appointed to try to help resolve the teacher evaluation negotiations between LAUSD and the teachers union (UTLA), according to a UTLA newsletter. The October 19th issue of the United Teacher states that, “the union continues to push back against LAUSD’s proposal to link a percentage of a teacher’s evaluation to...

Deasy: Teachers Delaying LAUSD Bid for $40M in Federal Grants Officials with the Los Angeles Unified School District raced on Monday to meet a fast-approaching deadline to apply for up to $40 million in federal grants. But Superintendent John Deasy said United Teachers Los Angeles has yet to sign off on the bid because it “requires...

One of the lowest-performing schools in LAUSD, Samuel Gompers Middle School, opened two new learning gardens this week. The gardens were installed with a grant from a non-profit called Kitchen Community and are intended to help fight childhood obesity and diabetes. LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy, who is strong proponent of linking nutrition and education, was...

LA School Report has learned that LAUSD has filed a “declaration of impasse” in their negotiations with UTLA over teacher evaluations, and as a result the negotiations have gone to mediation with the Public Employee Relations Board. The “impasse” declaration was filed more than a couple of weeks ago, according to LAUSD Chief Labor and...

Raised in Pacoima and an alumna of San Fernando High School, District 6 School Board Member Nury Martinez earlier this fall announced that she isn’t running for re-election to the LAUSD board in order to run for City Council (see Martinez Running For City Council). The announcement hasn’t made the four-year board member any less busy....

L.A. Schools Chief Gets One-Year Contract Extension Superintendent John Deasy has received a one-year contract extension, but was unable to achieve ambitious performance targets that would have triggered a salary bonus. LA Times  [The Times’ Teresa Watanabe and Howard Blume are live-chatting about the contract extension here.] LAUSD approves one-year contract for Superintendent John Deasy The Los...

In recent weeks, Superintendent John Deasy has been warning about the dire circumstances confronting LAUSD if voters don’t approve one of the two measures to raise money for public education on the ballot in November.   However, even if Governor Jerry Brown’s Prop. 30 and Molly Munger’s Prop. 38 both pass, only the top vote-getter...

Deasy Gets Authority Over Approving Outside Control of Schools The LAUSD school board approved giving Deasy the new authority when it approved extensions of agreements with the mayor’s Partnership for Los Angeles Schools and L.A.’s Promise. The teachers union and two school board members called for a delay, seeking a more extensive review of the schools’...

It was a slightly less crowded, slightly less emotionally charged LAUSD school board meeting Tuesday — at least compared to the last few, thanks largely to board member Steve Zimmer’s postponed resolutions rejecting the use of student achievement in teacher evaluations and scaling back charter school growth. That didn’t stop the meeting from lasting more...

Deasy: LAUSD’s Future Rests With Voters Los Angeles Unified is making significant progress in improving its academic achievement and graduation rates, but future gains will be in peril if voters reject a statewide tax hike to fund public schools, Superintendent John Deasy said Monday. Daily News TV News covered the speech as well, including CBS, ABC,...