* UPDATED In a scathing critique of LA Unified’s implementation of its new student data tracking system, a team of independent analysts found problems from the beginning, including an overall “lack of communication or understanding of application stability” critical to the project’s success. In short, Arnold Viramontes, an outside expert hired by former superintendent John...

Attorneys for LA Unified asked the judge in the civil trial against the district involving the sex abuse scandal at Miramonte Elementary School for a gag order, which would prevent anyone involved with the case from talking publicly about it, according to NBC Los Angeles. Jury selection in the case is expected to begin later this month. The case stems from...

After Tuesday’s two-hour MiSiS meltdown, Superintendent Ramon Cortines called for Microsoft to send in the cavalry and the Seattle-based company responded by sending a total of one — count ’em, one — expert to help with the glitch-plagued student data program serving 650,000 students. The system crashed when too many teachers logged on to update...

Oops. Despite efforts by Superintendent Ramon Cortines and LA Unified‘s Information Technology team to get MiSiS back on track — or at the very least, semi-functional — it seems that the data management system remains unreliable. The system went down between 2 pm and 4 pm yesterday, he said in a memo to staff. It...

* UPDATED As promised, LA Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines has completed the reorganization of the district’s MiSiS leadership team, promoting a few employees and setting up a new chain of command with himself and Chief Deputy Superintendent Michelle King at the top. In the new hierarchy of the Information Technology Division (ITD), Cortines has named...

* UPDATED The MiSiS cash register is starting to ring. Ever since the bungled launch of the student data system, the district has been throwing heaps of money at software problems to get the system functioning properly to meet district, state and federal mandated deadlines. “More than anybody, I want to know how much money...

Would-be candidates for next year’s LA Unified school board elections have until noon on Saturday, Nov. 8 to file a Declaration of Intention to run with the Los Angeles City Clerk.  Only those candidates who meet the deadline and submit a qualifying nominating petition will appear on the March 3, 2015 primary ballot. The deadline for...

*UPDATE The first civil trial against LA Unified over the sex abuse scandal at Miramonte Elementary School is headed to court later this week but first, a County Superior Court judge has ordered the two sides to meet for a last ditch effort to settle the case. Judge John Shepard Wiley has ordered the district to...

Ron Chandler, LA Unified’s Chief Information Officer and the public face of the district’s two biggest technology programs, iPads and the new student-tracking system, resigned today in a shuffling of the district’s Information Technology Department. The move is the latest and most decisive change during Ramon Cortines‘s first two weeks as superintendent, and it comes as...