Months of preparation in anticipation of the El Niño storms have kept service calls to LA Unified’s facilities office to a “moderate” level, according to the school district’s director of Maintenance and Operations Roger Finstad. Yesterday, he said, his department received 423 rain-related service calls from 211 schools, and by mid-afternoon today, he received 235 calls from...

While a majority of LA Unified’s traditional schools scheduled to reopen next Monday, Jan. 11, about 75 district charters are starting this week. Some of the independent charter schools elected to truncate their winter break by one week, limiting the winter break to two weeks while opting for a longer spring break or an earlier...

Two new school sites are expected to be completely ready by Wednesday for 1,850 LA Unified students relocated from the methane gas leak in Porter Ranch. That will give the district time to work out any last-minute glitches before the students and faculty move in next week. School board member Scott Schmerelson, Local District Northwest Superintendent...

California voters may face difficult decisions regarding the future of education in the state in November as the state ballot could feature several propositions that would have an enormous impact on the educational landscape. So far only one ed-related measure has been cleared for voting, but there are several others in the works, each with...

A Van Nuys High School student mounted a petition drive to avoid taking finals this week after an emailed threat of violence closed down all LA Unified schools. It didn’t work. Final exams went on, as they did at all other schools. Still, the organizer got more than 1,300 students to sign it over the past...

The LA Unified school board is drawing closer to the end of the search for a new with another closed door meeting scheduled for tomorrow, just after a special open session to discuss the on-going gas leak affecting two nearby schools in the Valley. The board is considering a move to declare emergency conditions at Porter Ranch Community...

UPDATED After a long tense day that resulted in all LA Unified schools being closed due to a bomb and weapons threat, normal routines came back to schools across the district this morning. “Things have gone extraordinarily smoothly,” board President Steve Zimmer told LA School Report. “It’s as close to normal as possible. Even so,...

LA Unified officials said tonight that all district schools have been declared safe and will reopen tomorrow. The decision was made after law enforcement officials determined that an email foretelling violent acts across the district was judged to be “not a credible threat” by investigators, in the words of Mayor Eric Garretti, who joined city...

Walter Reed Middle School in Studio City, has “zero periods,” when students with electives go to classes before school begins. When teachers arrived at the school early today to prepare for their regular class time, they were greeted by their colleagues saying, “Leave the school, we’re on Level 1 alert. This is serious!” Minutes before...

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti made it very clear: He didn’t close the schools. Neither did the police chief, nor the county sheriff. That decision was made by LA Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines, who was supposed to be on his way to retirement this week. “I made the decision to close the schools,” Cortines said...