A small coalition of community organizations rallied at LA Unified headquarters today, urging district leaders to invest in more restorative justice programs and alternative schools. The Dignity in Schools Campaign joined with leaders of the parent group, CADRE, Public Counsel and the teachers union, UTLA, to celebrate, what they called “a minor victory.” Beginning next...

School may be out for the summer, but things are not cooling down for the LA Unified school board as no less than three organizations are planing rallies or protests at Tuesday’s scheduled board meeting. The LA teachers union, UTLA, the Ethnic Studies Now Coalition and a conglomerate of organizations in favor of the district...

LA Unified and the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles (AALA) have reached a tentative agreement on a 10 percent salary increase over two years that would replace a June 2014 agreement that called for a 6.5 percent raise. The agreement is set to be voted on for ratification by members of AALA — which represents...

The end of another school year this week brings to a close one of LA Unified’s most crazy, controversial and dysfunctional academic years. It’s a real testament to students, teachers and other school personnel that they persevered through so much disruption and tumult. So, a tip of the hat to the nation’s second-largest school district...

The LA teachers union, UTLA, has had a busy, visible 2014-15 school year, staging numerous rallies, boycotts and strike threats on the way to securing a new three-year contract and 10.4 percent raise. But before the school year is out — or technically, just after, as the last day of class for LA Unifed is...

Dozens of teachers, parents and students protested today at a UTLA rally against LA Unified’s plans to reconstitute one of the district’s most troubled schools. Barack Obama Global Preparation Academy in south LA is one of the district’s few Pilot Schools as well as one of 37 “Reed Investment Schools,” those involved in a legal...

*UPDATED A bitter war of words between the management of  Alliance College-Ready Public Schools and UTLA, the union trying to organize its teachers, got nastier today. UTLA accused Alliance management and the California Charter Schools Association (CCSA) of “anti-teacher activity” by paying alumni to call parents of students to sway their opinion against union efforts to draw the...

Tomorrow’s LA Unified School Board meeting is shaping up to be loud and crowded as the seven members take the final step in approving a new contract with the teachers union and consider several plans to fix impending drop in graduation rates. After years of working under an expired contract, UTLA members last week overwhelmingly...

* UPDATED UTLA  members overwhelmingly approved a tentative contract with LA Unified that will lead to 10.4 percent raise for teachers over two years. The school board is expected to rubber stamp the new deal at its next board meeting, on Tuesday. Eighty three percent of union members — 25,300 people — participated in the...

The release of an audit of a charter school co-founded by school board candidate Ref Rodriguez is heating up the waters of the already boiling LA Unified District 5 school board race. One day after reports emerged that a school board member, Monica Garcia, tried to delay the release of the audit, conducted by the district’s Office...