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Friday, June 7, 2013

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Education Headlines

Friday, June 7, 2013

MORENO VALLEY: Residents challenge school board member’s appointment

A petition was filed to remove the Moreno Valley school board member appointed to replace Mike Rios. Residents are seeking to void the appointment of Gary Baugh and force an election. They have about 2,000 signatures and believe they need about 1,500.

Deputy Mayor Joan Sullivan named CEO of Partnership for LA Shools

Joan Sullivan, the education deputy to outgoing Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, has been named CEO of the 22-campus Partnership for Los Angles Schools, officials said Wednesday.

Santa Clara Unified: Administrators, principals flee turbulent school district

Since a power shift in November, the Santa Clara Unified School Board has been accused of micromanaging, chiding and intimidating employees, usurping their roles and making abrupt decisions that muddled school operations. Now, as the school year ends Friday, more than one-fifth of top staff, including Superintendent Bobbie Plough, two assistant superintendents and six principals, have decided to step down from their posts, many fleeing the once-respected district.

Oakland: Judge grants embattled American Indian Model Schools temporary reprieve from shutdown

More than a thousand American Indian Model Schools pupils will be able to start summer school later this month after a judge Thursday prevented the embattled charter school from being shut down by issuing a temporary restraining order against the district.

New Haven school board to establish process for hiring new superintendent

New Haven Unified School District has begun the process of finding a new superintendent, board president Linda Canlas said.

Moms want GMOs out of school lunches

Zen Honeycutt, 40, of Mission Viejo is co-founder of Moms Across America, formed to rally support for California's Proposition 37, the genetically modified organism labeling measure rejected by voters in November. She is now working with other local moms to remove genetically modified ingredients from the food served in school lunches

Troubled Oakland charter schools to stay open

A trio of controversial Oakland charter schools slated for closure at the end of this month can continue to operate as they move through the appeal process, an Alameda County Superior Court judge ruled Thursday.

State tells schools to repay lunch money

The San Diego Unified School District has been ordered to pay back $13.4 million that the state says it improperly diverted from its cafeteria funds to pay for custodial and utility expenses.

Fensterwald: No agreement yet on holding districts accountable for new state money

Gov. Jerry Brown’s new school funding system is based on the idea that school districts, not Sacramento, should be given control over spending and then held accountable for students’ results. But with time running out to work on details of the Local Control Funding Formula, negotiators from the Assembly, Senate and the governor’s office have yet to agree on what, when and how districts should be judged.

Fensterwald: Funding reform worries potential ‘loser’ schools within ‘winning’ districts

Until now, the greatest tension over Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed school finance reform has been largely among districts: a political tussle between unhappy suburban and optimistic urban school factions over how new education dollars should be divvied up. But signs of discord in Los Angeles Unified indicate that the same battles over money may eventually play out among “winner” and “loser” schools within large diverse districts – like Oakland, San Diego and San Jose – that have both high- and low-income schools.
Thursday, June 6, 2013

Monterey Peninsula USD approves dual language charter school for Seaside

On Monday, trustees with the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District unanimously approved expanding the dual language program from K-5 to K-8 and begin the process to move all grades to Marshall West and create a dual language charter beginning in 2014.

Freedman: It’s about time! Reforming due process in Special Education

In the long saga of education reform, with all its talk, writing and action, Special Education has been largely on the back burner. Reformers seemed afraid to touch it—until now.

Fresno Unified OKs $646m budget, Bullard High improvements

Fresno Unified school trustees on Wednesday approved a $646 million budget for next school year and signed off on a plan they previously rejected to renovate Bullard High School.