An open and transparent search, background as an educator and under no circumstances someone from the Broad Academy. Those are the three major criteria that UTLA wants in the next LAUSD school superintendent. Alex Caputo-Pearl, the president of the United Teachers Los Angeles union, told the LA School Report that he has made it known to...

This is an oops moment. In recent stories about LA Unified’s search for a new superintendent to replace the soon-to-be-departing Ramon Cortines, we reported that no female has led the school district, drawing attention to the possibility that board President Steve Zimmer and his colleagues might want to make a little history in their next hire. That conclusion arose...

On the first day of school yesterday as he visited a school in his district, LA Unified board president Steve Zimmer encountered an unexpected issue: Parents at Vine Street Elementary in Hollywood were complaining about the tents, mobile homes and the homeless people living on the street behind the school. “I know, I saw that while coming into...

The first day of school went off yesterday without a hitch for LA Unified’s MiSiS system, a huge improvement over last year’s rocky start that caused so much disruption across the district. The My Integrated Student Information System allowed 23,110 users to log into the system and handled the schedules of 439,756 students, according to...

It was already the end of the first day for most LA Unified schools today, but for Superintendent Ramon Cortines, the day was far from over. At 2:30 p.m., he stopped in and thanked the MiSiS computer team for avoiding the computer crisis that occurred at the opening of school last year. “The biggest reason that it...

About 100 students, teachers and parents picketed Hobart Boulevard Elementary School this morning to protest the removal of celebrated teacher Rafe Esquith by LA Unified while an investigation continues, focused on him and his nonprofit program, the Hobart Shakespeareans. Carrying signs that say “Reinstate Rafe” and chanting “Be Nice, Work Hard,” the students marched around the front...

Only days before the school year begins, there are still about 319 known issues to deal with LAUSD’s troubled computer system, MiSiS, and school officials said they are working diligently to fix them. “We have made heroic, heroic progress with the MiSiS system,” said Diane H. Pappas, Chief Executive Officer of Strategic Planning and Digital...

Looking to calm any last-minute fears that the start of the new school year will mirror last year’s troublesome beginning, LA Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines is promising that the MiSiS computer system has been fixed and will operate smoothy when schools open later this month. “MiSiS is the heart of this district,” he said in a statement from...

Alliance College-Ready Public Charter Schools said today the group violated no laws over unionization efforts and asserted that some Alliance teachers “feel harassed by UTLA’s communications tactics.” Catherine Suitor, Chief Development & Communications Officer of Alliance, said in a statement to LA School Report the charter group looks forward to arguing its case before the state...

Because of a $300 million boost in bond money and the ability to hire extra help, most of the LAUSD schools are expected to have their air conditioning units working when school opens Aug. 18. “August is traditionally the hottest month of the year, and the severe heat spells doesn’t help the classroom situation,” said...