Day of turmoil at LAUSD

The Los Angeles Unified school board exerted its political muscle Tuesday, reversing several recommendations from outgoing Superintendent Ramon Cortines by placing more charter operators in charge of district schools. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

Following a packed five-hour hearing, the board gave charters control of schools representing nearly a quarter of the students in the Public School Choice reform plan. Cortines had recommended that more of those schools be managed under teams led by district employees.

The school board also asked that three chronically low-performing campuses be overhauled, forcing all employees at those schools to reapply for their jobs. Cortines had only recommended one school for an overhaul.

Teachers protest layoffs.
Sporting red T-shirts to symbolize solidarity, educators rallied Tuesday at campuses across Los Angeles Unified as the district sent out the last of the 7,300 pink slips to employees targeted for layoff. Connie Llanios in the Daily News,

The notices were sent this month to teachers, counselors, school nurses and librarians as Los Angeles Unified struggles to close a $408 million deficit in the 2011-12 budget. The district must notify anyone whose position might be eliminated, although it is unlikely that everyone who received a pink slip will lose their job.

Still, the notices elicited strong emotions from educators like Thomas Bullis, a fifth-grade teacher at Vintage Math, Science and Technology Magnet Elementary in North Hills.

Sohn to resign
James Sohn, the embattled chief of Los Angeles Unified's facilities department, is resigning from his $220,000-a-year job, he said Tuesday. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

Sohn, who was criticized for a shortage of inspectors and contracting irregularities in the district's massive construction program, will leave his post at the end of March. He has worked for Los Angeles Unified since 2002 and was promoted to head the facilities department in October 2009.