* UPDATED After a three-month nationwide search, the LA Unified school board today kept it all in the family, naming Michelle King, a district teacher and administrator for nearly 30 years, to serve as its new superintendent. She succeeds Ramon Cortines whom she served as chief deputy until he stepped down last month. The 54-year-old...

Michelle King, the new LA Unified superintendent, is a district “lifer,” having worked all of her professional career in the district as a teacher, principal, magnet coordinator and top administrator. She also is a product of LA Unified, having attended Palisades High School. King, 54, served as senior deputy superintendent of school operations under former...

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...

The new year is starting out much as the old year ended, with the LA Unified school board still deliberating on a new superintendent. The board’s conversation is scheduled to continue in another closed session tomorrow —  the seventh devoted to the selection — and an announcement would follow if a vote by the members...

Michelle King, Deputy Superintendent of LAUSD will step in as head until a permanent successor is selected

The LA Unified school board is meeting later today in open and closed sessions, and one of the items on the agenda appears to suggest that the members may appoint a temporary superintendent until they decide on a permanent successor to Ramon Cortines. The closed session agenda includes “Unrepresented Employee: Superintendent or Acting/Interim Superintendent of...

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,...

Hundreds of LA Unified employees and parents filed into the Edward R. Roybal Learning Center‘s downtown auditorium yesterday for a “Back to School at LAUSD” forum, hosted by Superintendent Ramon Cortines and other key district leaders. The event wasn’t called to unveil a specific agenda, but more for an open panel discussion on issues facing the...

Three quarters of LA Unified students who took the new statewide Common Core-aligned tests for math and two-thirds of students who took the tests for English failed to meet state standards, according to data released today by the California Department of Education. The scores on the new California Assessment of Student Progress and Performance (CAASPP) reflect...