LAUSD passes guidelines for Parent Trigger, seeks law's repeal
by By Barbara Jones, Staff Writer
Following a ruckus over the use of the Parent Trigger law at two Los Angeles Unified schools, the board set guidelines Tuesday for to better deal with efforts to handle the takeover and transformation of low-achieving campuses.
The resolution by board member Steve Zimmer requires the district to independently verify the signatures and how they're gathered by Parent Revolution, the group that helps to organize parents in efforts to take over schools. The district will also increase the amount and types of information available, such as an analysis of five years of school data and the types of reforms attempted in the past.
The Parent Empowerment Act allows parents at struggling schools to "trigger" reforms if more than 50 percent of them petition for change.
In efforts at 24th Street and Weigand Avenue Elementary schools, some parents say that Parent Revolution organizers lied to them in order to get their signatures and refused to rescind them when they asked. Parent Revolution's Gabe Rose, meanwhile, said that some district employees had crossed the line in trying block the group's takeover effort.
Zimmer and others acknowledged, however, that there was little they could do because the Parent Trigger is rooted in state law. Ultimately, they amended the resolution to call for a lobbying effort to repeal it
LAUSD spending $30 million to buy 30,000 iPads for students
by By Barbara Jones, Staff Writer
The Los Angeles Unified board Tuesday approved a $30 million contract to buy iPads for 30,000 students, the first phase in an ambitious plan to equip every pupil with a computer tablet within the next 14 months.
LAUSD board passes $6.2 billion budget
by By Barbara Jones, Staff Writer
The Los Angeles Unified school board passed a $6.2 billion budget for 2013-14 on Tuesday, the first time in five years that deep cuts and gut-wrenching layoffs haven't been part of the financial plan.
