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School board races coming into view as filing deadline approaches
With tomorrow’s noon deadline approaching to file for next year’s LA Unified school board elections, the races are coming into view. Seats in four of the board’s seven districts — 1, 3, 5 and 7 — are up for grabs, making the elections hugely influential on future district policies. All four of the incumbents are...
By Craig Clough | November 7, 2014
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Galatzan volunteers to lead panel on email retention policy
Board member Tamar Galatzan volunteered yesterday to lead a task force examining LA Unified’s email deletion and retention policy, which is intended to eliminate unnecessary emails even as some some board members fear it could lead to the destruction of important records. “It is critical that the public have confidence in the district’s commitment to...
By Vanessa Romo | October 15, 2014
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LAUSD outlines backup plans as MiSiS work continues
LA Unified is still scrambling to troubleshoot technical issues as the deadline for staffing schools approaches, the school board learned at its latest meeting yesterday. “Norm” day,” as it’s called, is set for Friday but problems with the new student data management system, MiSiS, have forced the district to devise a new plan: “The process...
By Vanessa Romo | September 10, 2014
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iPad report shared only with LAUSD officials in secrecy
A draft report on LA Unified’s handling of the controversial iPad contract that was leaked to media outlets last week was made available to board members and district administrators only if they agreed to sign a non-disclosure agreement, barring them from sharing the report with anyone. While some signed, others, including Superintendent John Deasy, did...
By Vanessa Romo | August 25, 2014
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Galatzan calling for probe into computer system snafus
* UPDATED Concerned by a slew of problems with the district’s new student management computer system, board member Tamar Galatzan said today she is asking the district’s Inspector General to conduct an audit of the defective rollout. “I demand to know what happened and how this got so messed up,” she told LA School Report. “Because until it...
By Vanessa Romo | August 15, 2014
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Galatzan endorses Johnson, leaving Vladovic as lone neutral
For those keeping score, it’s now 3-2. A second member of the LA Unified school board, Tamar Galatzan, is endorsing Alex Johnson for the open District 1 seat. She joins Monica Garcia as the board backers for Johnson. Three others — Monica Ratliff, Steve Zimmer and Bennett Kayser — have endorsed George McKenna. That leaves...
By LA School Report | July 31, 2014
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Galatzan raises new concerns about LA Unified bond committee
For the second time in recent weeks, Tamar Galatzan has turned a critical eye toward LA Unified’s Bond Oversight Committee and the role it plays in monitoring district spending on bond-funded projects. At the board meeting on Tuesday, she objected to the BOC’s wholesale approval of a library project that earmarked $116,000 to move library...
By Vanessa Romo | July 3, 2014
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JUST IN: Richard Vladovic re-elected LAUSD board president
*UPDATED The LA Unified School Board today re-elected Richard Vladovic to serve as president for the 2014-15 school year. Rather than postpone the vote until after the August runoff to fill the vacant District 1 seat, the six member board voted and by a 5-1 margin supported Vladovic’s continued leadership. Tamar Galatzan was the lone...
By Vanessa Romo | July 1, 2014
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Vergara ruling gets mixed reaction from school board
Predictably, the historic superior court decision yesterday in the Vergara case elicited mixed reactions from members of the LA Unified school board. The ruling, which found California laws dictating teacher tenure, seniority rights and dismissal practices unconstitutional, is seen as huge blow to teacher unions and a boost to education reformers. Here is what a...
By LA School Report | June 11, 2014
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Galatzan doubles down in effort to block nominee to bond panel
LA Unified school board member Tamar Galatzan is not going down quietly when it comes to Stuart Magruder, a staunch opponent of the district’s $1 billion iPad program whom the board removed from the Bond Oversight Committee last month. Magruder was the representative of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). Galatzan had opposed his renomination to...
By Vanessa Romo | June 5, 2014