Here's what the Daily News editorial had to say about LAUSD hiring image consultants.

And here's the Times' take:

The Los Angeles Unified School District feels misunderstood. Picked on by journalists who won't stop reporting on its payroll nightmare. (OK, there are other reasons it feels picked on, but that's the big one at the moment.)

Since January, thousands of employees have been underpaid or overpaid. The district says those who were overpaid need to return a total of $53 million, but those employees don't believe the district's figures and want hard proof before they yield one penny. At the same time, thousands of employees have been underpaid by $7 million. School officials promise to pay them what they're owed, but many of those employees don't believe the district either.

So what does the district do to correct the natural perception of its incompetence? Fix the problem? Nope. As first reported by our colleagues at the Daily News, it hires image consultants. It's paying Victor Abalos, a consultant for Supt. David L. Brewer, $178,000 for one year to restructure the district's PR department. It's also paying Michael Bustamante $90,000 for six months to focus on the payroll fiasco, and it has signed up the public relations firm Rogers Group as well. This, the paper reports, is on top of a six-person communications department with a $1.4-million budget. And they expect journalists not to pick on them?

Click here for the full editorial.

And Howard Blume wrote about LAUSD being warned that it falls short of state standards.

Posted by Naush Boghossian at 11:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hammered by a barrage of negative publicity in recent months, Los Angeles Unified School District officials have quietly hired two consultants to help improve their public image.

The school district also hired the public relations firm Rogers Group to focus exclusively on dealing with fallout from an electronic payroll system that has left thousands of employees underpaid or overpaid since February.

The recent hirings come in addition to a six-person communications staff with a nearly $1.4 million budget, an overall $10 million communications budget, and a separate consulting contract with Darry Sragow, who helps LAUSD develop communications strategies and policy issues.

But LAUSD officials on Tuesday defended the public relations moves, saying that even with the additions, their communications budget pales in comparison to those of other large school districts.

Click here for the full story.

The Times and the Daily Breeze wrote about the school board's vote to approve spending opposed by the superintendent.

Posted by Naush Boghossian at 5:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Superintendent David Brewer's reform proposal--targeting 34 low-performing schools--which was scheduled to be unveiled today, has hit yet another bump. After weeks of saying he would present his plan to the school board on Nov. 20, we got word late yesterday that the committee of the whole meeting had been canceled. Word is that Brewer is still working on the plan, making changes, and a ninth draft is floating around. The union leadership has made it clear that they will do everything in their power to block the proposal (at least the eighth and final version that was around last week). The earliest Brewer will present to the board now is Dec. 4, with a vote on Dec. 11.

The Times' Evelyn Larrubia wrote today about LAUSD's legal victory over politically-connected developer Richard Meruelo in a Glassell Park eminent domain case.
L.A. Unified wins eminent domain claim
Judge approves district officials' right to take Glassell Park property for a new high school. How much they'll have to pay for it has yet to be determined.

The Los Angeles Unified School District won the first round Monday in a legal battle with developer Richard Meruelo over the fate of a former rail yard.

Superior Court Judge Soussan Bruguera ruled that the district had a right to take the 23-acre Glassell Park property from Meruelo through eminent domain. The decision frees the district to build a 2,300-student high school there without fear of losing the property later.

Click here for the full story.

Posted by Naush Boghossian at 1:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Daily News' editorial board takes a position on Superintendent David Brewer defying the union in his reform proposal for 34 low-performing schools. Click here for the editorial.

And here's a story from the Times on a building boom at L.A.'s private schools.

Posted by Naush Boghossian at 1:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The whole world now knows the worst about Los Angeles' public schools, thanks to Matt Drudge, who has linked to this account of LAUSD from a substitute teacher:

There's no teaching going on at LAUSD – only confinement of the sort one may find in a penal colony, complete with walkie-talkie-carrying wardens and bullhorns. And I have "confined" at many different schools within central Los Angeles in the last six months. Many students scream "suuuuuuuub" when they see someone like me – a "guest teacher" – in their classroom and trample anyone and/or anything as they push and shove their way inside.

And it only gets worse from there ...

Check out reaction to the piece here.

Posted by Chris Weinkopf at 11:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Los Angeles Unified's highest-performing independent charter school, Ivy Academia, is embroiled in a struggle with the district for more space. The Woodland Hills school held its second protest Wednesday challenging LAUSD's refusal so far to reopen two vacant campuses nearby that would allow their school to grow.

The school is working to raise community awarness of their need for adequate facilities.

LAUSD has five schools near Ivy that have been closed for years due to declining enrollment, but district officials maintain it would cost millions of dollars to prepare them for student occupation.

Reopening the vacant schools became a campaign issue during the school board election. New school board member Tamar Galatzan, who represents parts of the San Fernando Valley, had said she would work to reopen these school sites.

Click here for a Nov. 24, 2006 article that gives some background information of what's going on.

Posted by Naush Boghossian at 11:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Colfax Elementary will hold a community yard sale Saturday, Nov. 17 from 9 am to 2 pm, and the money raised will go to a foundation to benefit Southern California fire victims.

The goal of the "Colfax Gives Back" event is twofold: help those devastated by the fires and teach children a valuable lesson about being grateful for what they have and to give generously to those in need.

The local community has kicked in to help the PTA. Ben Neumann from Globat.com and Ben Forat from Studio City Car Wash sponsored the event by having 10,000 event flyers distributed in the community.

The PTA is asking if you have items to donate for the event, you may drop them off Friday after school between 2:30 and 6 pm by the auditorium or Saturday morning between 7:30 and 9 am.

Notes on the flyer: "Bring your surplus, never used or outgrown things i.e. toys, furniture, clothing, books, bicycles, sports stuff--anything and everything that has a resale value. Please price & tag your items."

"Buy something new or useful to you, a friend, a relative or anyone else you can think of!"

The school is located at 11724 Addison Street, Valley Village.

Posted by Naush Boghossian at 11:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Friends of the Charter College of Education at Cal State L.A. will honor charter leaders Judy Burton and Yvonne Chan, as well as former LAUSD school board member David Tokofsky as Distinguished Educators today.

Past winners include former LAUSD Superintendent Ruben Zacarias and other LAUSD officials including Dan Isaacs, Robert Collins and John Liechty.

Posted by Naush Boghossian at 11:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In celebration of American Education Week's Substitute Educators Day, the National Education Association released the results of their second annual poll that asks which celebrity people would most like to have be a substitute teacher for a day.

J.K. Rowling, creator of the "Harry Potter" series won this year with 25 percent of the vote. The runners-up were Microsoft founder Bill Gates with 23 percent, followed by golf superstar Tiger Woods with 21 percent of the vote. "Ugly Betty" actress America Ferrera got 18 percent of the vote followed by director Steven Spielberg with 13 percent of the more than 4,500 responses to the poll.

"Teachers make magic every day in the classroom when they educate youngsters," NEA President Reg Weaver said. "J.K. Rowling has brought her own magic touch to millions of children by sparking their interest and cultivating a love of reading. Now that the Harry Potter series has come to a close, perhaps Ms. Rowling would like to join the teaching corps--even if just for a day--and keep the adventure alive."

The results weren't so close last year. Actress Jessica Alba won with a healthy lead. Interesting.

U.S. school districts are facing a shortage of substitute teachers. A survey by Utah State University showed that 96 percent of the nation's school districts said they had trouble recruiting and keeping substitutes. Solutions offered by NEA's Substitute Teachers Caucus include increasing pay for substitute teachers, offering incentives to subs who work a certain number of days in a given year, and providing substitutes with training.

Posted by Naush Boghossian at 10:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

L.A. kids still in U.S. cellar in grades 4 and 8
By Naush Boghossian, Staff Writer

Math and reading scores of Los Angeles Unified's fourth- and eighth-graders showed no improvement over last year and continue to lag behind both state and national averages, according to a national report released today.

In reading, performance of students in fourth and eighth grades in the Los Angeles Unified School District was the worst among 11 of the nation's largest urban school districts, according to the report card by the National Assessment of Education Progress.

In math, fourth-graders ranked eighth among peers in districts including Boston, Houston and New York, while eighth-graders fared better than peers in just two districts: the District of Columbia and Atlanta.

But LAUSD officials said Wednesday that a review of the district's performance over four years shows it is making gains that outpace those in the 10 comparable school districts.

"Looking at the trend, we're going in the right direction, but we still have a lot to do," said Esther Wong, assistant superintendent of planning, assessment and research at LAUSD.

"The work that we've done and the focus continues to show at least promising practices in what we need to do."

For the full story and to access the NAEP reading and math reports, click here.

For the L.A. Times story, click here.

If you have questions about the NAEP results, Peggy Carr, NCES Associate Commissioner, will
be answering questions about the release through an online question and answer session. You can submit questions by sending an email to tuda2007questions@ed.gov by Monday, November 19.

Answers to the questions will be posted here on November 20 at 3 p.m.

Posted by Naush Boghossian at 10:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Today Show will air Friday, Nov. 16 the latest segment in their ambitious project, the Class of 2020. The piece will focus on parent-teacher conferences. The project's goal is to follow a kindergarten class through high school graduation. The class is at an LAUSD school in the San Fernando Valley.

To watch previously aired segments or to learn more about the 13-year project, go to the web site for the Class of 2020.

Posted by Naush Boghossian at 2:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here's our 11/11 article on Brewer's first year as LAUSD superintendent.
You'll also find the one-year review articles on past superintendents.

Here's the Times' take, which ran on Oct. 8.

Posted by Naush Boghossian at 12:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here's a collection of recent LAUSD editorials.

L.A. Daily News 11/13
It's Too Early to Say How LAUSD Superintendent Will Fare

L.A. Times 11/14
A Rocky Freshman Year

L.A. Daily News 11/15
Poverty is No Excuse for Educational Failure

L.A. Daily News 11/12
LAUSD Schools Desperate for Reform

Posted by Naush Boghossian at 12:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Study: LAUSD lags behind other big-city districts in reading, math

Los Angeles Unified's fourth and eighth graders perform the worst in reading out of 11 of the nation's big-city school districts, according to a national report released today.

Fourth graders came in eighth in their performance in math, compared to districts in Boston, Houston and New York among others, while eighth graders did better than two school districts -- District of Columbia and Atlanta -- according to the 2007 National Assessent of Educational Progress, better known as the "Nation's Report Card."

Math and reading scores of LAUSD's fourth and eighth graders showed no improvement over last year, and continues to lag both the state and national averages, according to NAEP, which calculated the district's achievement trends based on standardized tests.

But district officials said Wednesday a review of the district's performance over four years shows gains that outpace those in the other 10 school districts.

"Looking at the trend, we're going in the right direction, but we still have a lot to do," said Esther Wong, assistant superintendent of planning, assessment and research at LAUSD. "The work that we've done and the focus continues to show at least promising practices in what we need to do."

Click here for the full story.

Posted by Naush Boghossian at 11:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Naush Boghossian, Staff Writer

LAUSD Superintendent's Strategic Plan for High Priority Schools Defying opposition from the teachers union, Los Angeles Unified Superintendent David Brewer III on Wednesday released a final plan to reform nearly three dozen schools that includes key elements vehemently decried by the union.

Despite union-leadership opposition to proposals including reassignment of teachers, merit pay and scripted teaching at middle and high schools, Brewer kept all of the concepts in his final plan.

The move sets up a critical showdown with the union, which now will target Los Angeles Unified School District board members, expected to vote on Brewer's plan later this month.

"He's ... declaring war. He's got to get this by the board of education and we're going to weigh into it very heavily," A.J. Duffy, president of United Teachers Los Angeles, said.

"This is not the Navy. He doesn't get people to automatically salute."

Click here for the full story.

Posted by Naush Boghossian at 11:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Los Angeles Unified Superintendent announced the winners Wednesday of a reading program he launched a in July. Three LAUSD students won savings bonds after participating in the Books of Summer program--a campaign that encouraged parents and guardians to read with their children.

Students were allowed to choose from a list of books by grade level and submitted reports on the book they read. Each entry was judged on creativity and how well students understood the concepts and themes in the book.

Alaysia Lyons, a first-grader at Knollwood Elementary in Granada Hills, won the best report for an elementary student--as well as a $500 savings bond.

South Gate Middle School's Melisa Vasquez was the overall middle school winner, which came with a $750 savings bond.

And Rose Scott, a ninth grade student at Harbor Teacher Preparatory Academy in Wilmington, got $1,000 for the best book report at the high school level.

Posted by Naush Boghossian at 2:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

LAUSD says it has fixed most payroll problems
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After nearly a year of inaccurate payments, district officials say the system is 80% repaired.
By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
November 5, 2007
The official message is simple: Starting today, nearly all teachers and other employees in the Los Angeles Unified School District finally will get paid the right amount.

The reassurance comes after nearly a year of payroll problems, including over- and underpayments. Some teachers' paychecks have varied widely from month to month, without a coherent explanation of the calculations.

Here's the full story.

Posted by Naush Boghossian at 2:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

LAUSD plans to charge for use of school grounds
By Naush Boghossian, Staff Writer

Hundreds of nonprofit youth groups in the San Fernando Valley and across the city will have to pay to use LAUSD facilities and athletic fields starting in March.

Saying the Los Angeles Unified School District's lean financial outlook requires the move, Superintendent David BrewerIII will institute a three-tiered fee structure to offset annual facilities costs of $3.8million.

The move comes just two years after district officials abandoned similar efforts after a broad public outcry that it could force youth groups to cancel thousands of worthwhile after-school events.

Read the story here.

Posted by Naush Boghossian at 10:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

School reform facing hurdles
By Naush Boghossian, Staff Writer

Just two weeks after announcing an ambitious effort to reform Los Angeles Unified middle schools, Superintendent David Brewer III finds his plan already foundering amid fierce opposition from the politically powerful teachers union.

Brewer, who proposed creating a special district of 44 low-performing schools, already has had to eliminate 10 of the sites and still faces opposition from teachers over the remaining schools. Only one San Fernando Valley school remains on the list.

And new rumblings have surfaced that union leaders and teachers in the proposed schools intend to kill the plan entirely.

Click here for the full story.
And here's what the L.A. Times wrote about the foundering plan.

Posted by Naush Boghossian at 6:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)