Final last day of school at University School

The last week of classes is always busy at University School in Thousand Oaks, but if you ask Principal Jeff Rickert, the entire school year has been busy this time. When students gather today for pizza and music on their last day of school, Rickert will be joined by teachers, staff and parents who also will bid a final farewell to the Atlas Avenue campus. After 46 years, University School will close for good.

Conejo district upholds alcohol-related suspensions of 13

The Conejo Valley Unified School District announced Wednesday that it upheld the alcohol-related suspensions of 13 members of the senior class at Newbury Park High School who won’t be allowed to participate in graduation ceremonies Friday. The students tested positive for alcohol when they arrived at their prom last week, officials said.

Amato not bowing out

Board member Sal Ramirez likens Stockton Unified to a soap opera, and Wednesday the school district's dizzying rhetoric and testy debate continued unabated.

Grim ‘worst-case’ forecast may prove to be reality for Lucia Mar

With Lucia Mar schools in their final week of the academic year, critics who blasted leaders of the South County district for presuming a “worst-case scenario” are left with the realization that it might actually happen.

Marin cuts Outdoor School's budget

Despite the impassioned pleas of former students, counselors, parents and other supporters, the Marin County Board of Education voted unanimously to make cuts to the county's popular Outdoor School at the Walker Creek Ranch in northern Marin, slashing the schedule of its four naturalists and eliminating the position of manager Jason Morris.

District ups graduation standards

San Diego schools will require all students to take University of California prerequisite courses, beginning with freshmen in the 2010-11 school year.

Board considers site for new high school

The Grossmont Union High School District's governing board today is expected to select a site in Alpine or Blossom Valley to build the district's next high school.

L.A.'s schools chief proposes gutting watchdog's office

Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines has proposed gutting the district's watchdog Inspector General's Office with a budget cut of 50 to 75 percent, described as potentially "catastrophic" to the department's operations.

Parents raise money to save valued programs

Across the Mt. Diablo school district, parents and schools are collecting money to save valued programs and positions eliminated because of budget cuts.

Bittersweet feelings as aging schools near closure

La'Dejah Dillard and Diana King have been inseparable friends at Adams Middle School this year, sharing gossip, classmates and experiences. But next year, the seventh-grade pair won't have the hallways and cafeteria of the East Richmond Heights campus for secret-telling. West Contra Costa district budget cuts forced closure of the 50-year-old school, along with Castro Elementary in El Cerrito and El Sobrante Elementary in El Sobrante.

Elk Grove Unified backs off on race-based rallies before state tests

Elk Grove Unified will stop its controversial practice of separating students by race for rallies designed to pump them up before they take state exams.

Schwarzenegger seeks online revolution in schools

In the state that gave the world Facebook, Google and the iPod, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says forcing California's students to rely on printed textbooks is so yesterday. The governor recently launched an initiative to see if the state's 6 million public school students can use more online learning materials, perhaps saving millions of dollars a year in textbook purchases.