Board member Mónica Ratliff asked why a controversial attorney was rehired by the district before members of the LA Unified board went into closed session today, . The lawyer in question, Keith Wyatt, won a case for the school district, absolving it from damages, but the way he argued it continues to cause a lot of...

The Charter High School of Arts – Multimedia and Performing, better known as CHAMPS, is at risk of losing its charter after school administrators failed to act aggressively last year when learning that an employee used a school credit card for her personal use. As a result, the LA Unified School Board has put the Van...

Responding to incidents of iPad misuse at district schools and widespread public criticism over problems with the rollout, the LA Unified board yesterday approved setting a special meeting later this month to “publicly grapple” with iPad issues. The 5-2 vote on a resolution from Monica Ratliff, who chairs a committee that oversees the iPad initiative,...

Is the Los Angeles Unified School Board finally coming to terms with harsh fiscal realities of a post-recession world? That’s what it seemed like yesterday, when the members met for one of the shortest meetings in recent memory, only four hours. A combination of declining enrollment, federal cuts in special education and this year’s Federal sequestration...

The LAUSD School Board today finally approved a $113 million budget for transitioning to the Common Core curriculum. The 6-1 vote marked the end of a tumultuous and seemingly directionless process that led to the resignation of Deputy Superintendent of Instruction Jaime Aquino, an LA Times editorial calling the Board “dysfunctional,” and finally to Mayor Eric Garcetti wading in to Board...

Just days after Richard Vladovic proposed seven new committees at his first school Board meeting as president, Superintendent John Deasy suggested, in a memo to Vladovic the creation of even more committees. Another seven, in fact, covering: Arts, Human Resources and Personnel, School Safety and Discipline, Government Relations and Legislative Affairs, Charter and Prop 39 Oversight, Magnet and Autonomous School Expansion...

What began as a breezy LA Unified School Board meeting on Tuesday turned, not surprisingly, into a long, tedious, sometimes rancorous session, with a host of issues discussed but rarely resolved. A number of key votes were postponed, and Superintendent John Deasy’s highly anticipated budget presentation was postponed until the Sept. 10 board meeting so it could...

School Board President Richard Vladovic, leading his first full meeting on Tuesday, created a slew of new “ad hoc” committees, naming as chairs each of his colleagues — with the exception of his predecessor as president, Monica Garcia. Vladovic asked Board member Marguerite LaMotte to continue in her role as chair of the Curriculum, Instruction...