LA Unified school board member Scott Schmerelson is bringing a resolution before the board today, asking it to go on record opposing a plan by the Broad Foundation to add 260 new charter schools to the district over the next eight years. The plan has drawn rebuke from other board members and the LA teachers union,...

In a new video on the LA Unified website, Board President Steve Zimmer  provides the latest count of how many people offered opinions on the superintendent search and what the next steps are in the process. Zimmer said 13,500 people went to the website to read about the superintendent search, more than 8,000 filled out the...

Months after LA School Report found confusion, dated information or simply no information on the websites of LA Unified board members, a number of them still appear to be squandering them as their most direct social media asset to reach constituents. In a self-described era of board openness and transparency, some members have made significant improvements on their...

Where’s Zimmo? Dressed as the popular “Where’s Waldo” red-and-white-striped children’s book character, LA Unified School Board President Steve Zimmer took to the Vine Street Elementary School twice today to encourage parents and teachers to get involved in the superintendent’s search. He used his appearances to say he is extending the deadline for people to complete...

LA Unified board President Steve Zimmer has announced he will be wearing a Halloween costume tomorrow when he visits schools. Oh, it’s not to join festivities planned for many of the LA Unified schools. Rather, he wants to give one last-ditch effort to push people to provide input into the superintendent search by filling out a...

The effort to find a consensus candidate to follow Ramon Cortines into the superintendent’s office is playing out as difficult issues sometimes do in LA Unified, with good intentions undermined by political pandering and a bit of disingenuousness. While Steve Zimmer, the board president, has set in motion a thoughtful and reasonable approach to the...

As the operators of El Camino Real Charter School High School prepare to ask the LA Unified board for approval to turn three vacant elementary school sites into new charter schools, one of the main hurdles they face is the growing skepticism of board President Steve Zimmer. The sites are located in the western San Fernando...

*UPDATED While classmates were at the beach, the mall or the park, about 150 LA Unified high school students spent part of their Saturday dowtown at the United Way of Greater Los Angeles, taking part in a Youth Town Hall. The focus of the meeting was for the students to offer opinions on how the district...

As the LA Unified board is holding its monthly meeting tomorrow, the teachers union, UTLA, is planning a sidewalk protest against the Broad Foundation’s plan to expand the number of charter schools in the district. The demonstration follows the release today of a Broad-commissioned poll, showing that a large majority of city residents want more choices...

Two years after it was launched, an LA Unified program aimed at making schools safer for students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning (LGBTQ) is being praised as it expands to eight other major districts around the country. The “OUT for Safe Schools” program was created in 2013 by a school board...