Recently in Schools Category

There's a computer center, a creative writing table, a math area and a library.
What sounds like a traditional school campus is actually an early-education center, where pint-size preschoolers are eased into the rigors of the three R's. Barbara Jones in the Daly News.

"By the time they reach kindergarten, they have a very strong grasp of school readiness," said Sheila Hardy, the principal at the Pacoima Early Education Center, one of the 107 such facilities in Los Angeles Unified.

"They can read, they can use a pencil, the social skills are there. And these are skills that would be affected without the preschool experience."

Los Angeles Unified's budget deficit has swelled to $557 million, and the district faces layoffs of up to 7,500 employees and cuts to some of its most successful programs without a revenue trifecta to bring in cash, officials said Tuesday.Barbara Jones in the Daily News,

An outline of the 2012-13 financial plan set for a vote next Tuesday shows the district will have only enough state revenue to fund core K-12 programs, along with district facilities and critical health and safety services.

Lower on the list of priorities - and with no funding source guaranteed - are some of the district's most popular programs. According to officials and documents, those include adult and early-childhood education, after-school and arts programs, and even the high-profile Academic Decathlon and All District Honor Marching Band.
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Superintendent John Deasy is taking the first steps in restructuring Los Angeles Unified, with a plan that would thin the district's administrative ranks and redirect resources to improving classroom instruction. Barbasra Jones in the Daily News,

Under a draft of the proposed reorganization obtained by the Daily News, LAUSD's eight local district offices would be squeezed down to four, with a new structure that diversifies administrative responsibilities. A fifth office would be responsible for overseeing the overhaul of dozens of low-performing schools.

The plan would cut 64 of the system's 311 administrative positions, shaving nearly $6.3 million from a deficit of nearly a half-billion dollars.

Rebecca Mieliwocki, known for inspiring her seventh-grade English students at Luther Burbank Middle School in Burbank, was named Thursday as one of four finalists for the 60th annual National Teacher of the Year Award.Barbara Jones in the Daiiy News,

Mieliwocki was notified about two weeks ago, then sworn to secrecy, that she had made the final cut from among nearly 287,000 public school teachers in California, and an estimated 3.2 million nationwide.

If she is announced as the winner in April, she'll be honored at a Rose Garden ceremony with President Barack Obama. She'll then embark on a yearlong speaking tour, sharing with educators and others the infectious enthusiasm and unflagging optimism that have made her a favorite among students and colleagues.

Expanding the debate on the future of Los Angeles Unified, a divided school board on Tuesday ordered a study on the pros and cons of erasing the district's attendance boundaries.Barbara Jones in the Daily News,

Superintendent John Deasy will return in 90 days with a study that dovetails with another report he's compiling on ways to increase the district's sagging enrollment and expand its successful magnet program.

On a parallel track, administrators at underperforming schools are preparing their own plans to improve student achievement, beginning with the fall semester.

This convergence of events sparked heated debate among board members, who split 4-3 on whether to explore the attendance boundary issue.

Double-digit unemployment and high foreclosure activity. Rising food and utility bills. Stagnating income and savings. Barbara Jones in the Daily News.

With families facing challenges like these, the Los Angeles Unified School District may find itself facing an uphill battle persuading two-thirds of L.A. area voters to approve a $270-a-year parcel tax.

Factor in Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed half-cent sales tax hike for education - along with other tax and fee measures likely to appear on the same Nov. 6 ballot - and LAUSD's path to victory gets even steeper, political experts said Wednesday.

Facing a budget deficit of more than a half-billion dollars for 2012-13, Los Angeles Unified Superintendent John Deasy today proposed a parcel tax for the November ballot as a way to head off cuts he said would decimate the nation's second-largest school district.Barbara Jones in the Daily News,

Presenting an update on the impacts of the proposed state budget Deasy said the district has already accrued a deficit of $543 million for the new school year because of deferrals in state funding over the last five years.

That shortfall could grow by as much as $278 million if voters defeat a plan by Gov. Jerry Brown to salavage public education through a sale-tax hike and higher income taxes for Californians earning more than $250,000.

The Los Angeles Unified Board of Education unanimously approved Monday a landmark agreement that gives the district's individual campuses the freedom of charters, but also holds them accountable for how well students perform.Daily News.
The board endorsed the deal during a special meeting Monday. Last week, the Los Angeles teachers union overwhelmingly approved the agreement with nearly 70 percent of the 19,500 members casting ballots in favor of the so-called School Stabilization and Empowerment Initiative.

Nearly 140 Los Angeles Unified schools that lack Wi-Fi access will get a technology upgrade over the next several years, using $99 million in voter-approved bond funds.Barbara Jonews in the Daily News

About 50 schools in the San Fernando Valley are among the 138 campuses that will benefit from the modernization program approved last week by the school board.

Officials say the upgrade will free teachers and students from having to use computers only in hard-wired classrooms, offering greater flexibility in devising more creative lesson plans and better learning tools.

Six students. Barbara Jones in the Daily News,.

Had just a half-dozen more students at the Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies applied for free or discounted lunches, the magnet school would have qualified to continue receiving federal money for campuses with high numbers of poor youngsters.

Instead, under tighter guidelines passed this week by the Los Angeles school board, SOCES will no longer qualify for Title I funds, blowing a $400,000 hole in its budget for the 2012-13 school year.

"When I heard we were losing Title I money and I heard it was nearly $400,000, I knew we were sunk," said Alex Wald, who has two children at SOCES and is active in the school's PTA. "There's no way we can raise that."

LAPD officials are struggling with their policy on impounding cars of unlicensed drivers, acknowledging Tuesday that conflicting city codes lead to inconsistent treatment of violators. C.J. Lin in the Daily News.

The city currently has two separate codes for dealing with first-time unlicensed drivers; one allows the officer to impound the car for 30 days, while the other does not set the length of the time for the impound, according to Los Angeles Police Deputy Chief Michel Moore.

Federal money to help impoverished students will be diverted from 23 Los Angeles Unified schools, including nine in the San Fernando Valley, to campuses with higher numbers of low-income students under new guidelines adopted Tuesday by the school board. Barbara Jones in the Daily News.

Valley board member Tamar Galatzan led a spirited debate as she fought the proposal to raise the threshold for receiving Title I money, which helps pay for things like dropout specialists, counselors and after-school programs.

Vowing to fight "immoral" reductions in state funding, LAUSD's chief has crafted a complex strategy that would defer millions of dollars in cuts until next year - when programs like adult and early-childhood education could be gutted - and use the courts to block the disruption of student busing. Barbara Jones in the Daily News.

The California Department of Financial is set to announce today whether the state has generated an additional $4 billion in revenue. A shortfall would trigger up to $2 billion in cuts to social services, universities and public schools, including $188 million for Los Angeles Unified.

Los Angeles Unified students will learn recycling and composting along with reading and writing under a $40 million trash-removal contract that includes a plan to educate kids about conservation.Barbara Jones in the Daily News,

Under a five-year deal approved Tuesday by the school board, Consolidated Disposal Service plans to work with the district on ways to keep thousands of tons of rubbish -- primarily food waste and recyclables -- out of Sunshine Canyon and other local landfills. The goal is to divert 70 percent of the estimated 114,251 tons of waste generated annually by schools and offices, up from the nearly 64 percent diverted from dumps last year.

"Consolidated is taking a holistic approach to waste management," with composting and recycling included along with solid-waste disposal, said John Sterritt, director of Los Angeles Unified's Office of Environmental Health and Safety. "The intent is to minimize what we're putting in the landfill."

Thanks to a new online registration program and aggressive community outreach efforts, a record number of students are applying for Los Angeles Unified's magnet schools, long considered the "jewels" of the sprawling district.Barbara Jones in the Daily News,

With two weeks remaining before the Dec. 16 deadline, nearly 17,000 students have applied for about 20,000 vacant seats in the 172 magnet programs. That compares with about 2,500 applicants through Nov. 30 of last year, with online access credited for nearly all of the surge.