The teachers union has been strangely silent about the parent trigger issue lately — even as different variations on the controversial school turnaround approach are being explored. In just the last few weeks, the parents of 24th St. have chosen a new “hybrid” plan that would leave the younger grades in the hands of LAUSD; the...

Teachers were expected to hand Superintendent John Deasy a vote of no confidence on Thursday night, given a combination of genuine animosity towards his approach and arm-twisting from United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA). But the margin was nothing short of astounding — 16,040 UTLA members (mostly teachers but also some other LAUSD employees), or...

The union political action committee charged with re-interviewing District 6 runoff candidates last night voted narrowly to remove Antonio Sanchez and make Monica Ratliff its sole endorsed candidate for the May 21 runoff — but fell well short of the two-thirds majority required to make the recommendation official. UTLA’s governing body, the House of Representatives,...

Tomorrow’s much-anticipated House of Representatives debate over District 6 endorsements isn’t the only potentially divisive issue UTLA’s governing body has on tap this Spring. Next month, members of the teachers union will also vote on a new initiative to demand various things from LAUSD such as better pay, reduced class size, restored funding of early childhood...

LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy and UTLA President Warren Fletcher both sat down separately with KPCC’s “Take Two” radio program to discuss their post-election reactions and visions for the future of LA schools. Listen to the Deasy interview here and the Fletcher interview here. Highlights from Deasy’s interview include his reaction to Steve Zimmer’s win over Kate Anderson in District...

After issuing strong objections on Friday, the teachers union is now taking a wait-and-see attitude to LAUSD’s new guidelines saying principals should prepare to evaluate teachers with as much 30% of the evaluation based on student achievement. “We have to see how this rolls out,” UTLA President Warren Fletcher told LA School Report. “There’s a right way...

Deasy Wants 30% of Teacher Evaluations Based on Test Scores L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy announced Friday that as much as 30% of a teacher’s evaluation will be based on student test scores, setting off more contention in the nation’s second-largest school system in the weeks before a critical Board of Education election. LA Times...

American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten is scheduled to hold a Friday, February 8 press conference at Woodland Hills Academy to announce a $150,000 grant to the United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA). The grant is aimed at helping teachers create strong school improvement plans and prevent the need for any additional “parent trigger” actions...

Conflicting priorities over how to spend an influx of $6 billion in statewide Prop. 30 funds are causing tensions between LAUSD and the teachers union, UTLA. As a recent UTLA newletter reveals, concerns about how the money will be spent are one of the reasons that the union is so focused on the outcome of...

At an hour of the morning that many of us might find unfamiliar, United Teacher of Los Angeles (UTLA) President Warren Fletcher walks to the corner and waits for a city bus to take him downtown. As the unlikely leader of the Los Angeles teachers union for the past two years, Fletcher has changed the...