With a hearing now scheduled for Aug. 21, LA Unified’s teachers union, UTLA, will have the chance to argue before a neutral party that Alliance College-Ready Public Charter Schools, violated state education law by blocking the union’s efforts to bring Alliance teachers into its membership. The union’s accusations are detailed in two complaints (here and...

The LA Unified board voted last night to start the search for a new superintendent by issuing a request for bids to firms that would aide in the selection process. The move is the first step toward identifying candidates to replace the current superintendent, Ramon Cortines, who has expressed a desire to step down by...

The LA Unified board has scheduled a special meeting next week to initiate discussions on how to conduct the search for a successor to Superintendent Ray Cortines, who has expressed a desire to step down by December. “The board will meet on July 30 to start just the technical part of the [search] process,” board president Steve...

As the result of a new law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown last month, California’s school districts must specifically outline in their Local Control Accountability Plans (LCAP) how they will help homeless students, through tracking their test scores and other accountability measures. The law is believed to be the first of its kind in the...

Acknowledging the challenges facing new teachers with the aim of helping them have long careers, LA Unified is offering classes this month to help freshly-minted teachers learn how to deal with stress. The district is offering a the New Teacher Summer Institute, a five-day series of workshops, with about 1,800 teachers expected to take the courses....

On my last day with LA School Report I’d like to take a minute (or ten) to do some navel gazing — reflect on the things I’ve learned as an education reporter covering this behemoth school district, a job for the most part I have truly enjoyed. First, the things I won’t be missing about...

LA Unified Board President Richard Vladovic successfully held his District 7 seat last night, winning a third term by the largest margin of the day’s three elections in a race with the lowest turn out. He won with 56 percent of the vote to Lydia Gutierrez’s 44 percent. Mike Trujillo, a campaign consultant to Vladovic,...

In a stunning upset, Scott Schmerelson handily defeated two-term incumbent Tamar Galatzan in the race for LA Unified’s District 3 seat. Schmerelson beat Galatzan with more than 3,000 votes, 55 percent to 45 percent. “I am very happy, very excited, and I’m ready for my five-year term,” he told LA School Report late last night,...

* UPDATED Superintendent Ramon Cortines is putting off retirement for another year. The LA Unified school board yesterday voted unanimously to extend Cortines’s contract through the end of the 2015-16 school year. Terms of the deal are still under review, “but nothing, including salary, was expected to change from the previous pact,” district officials said...