Headlines
FCMAT provides links to California K-12 news stories as a service to the industry. However, some stories may not be accessible because of newspapers' subscription policies.
Jul 06, 2022
The state, which last year mandated universal TK for all 4-year-olds, is only financing the program for districts that are state-funded, or what is referred to as “local control funding formula” districts that offer per-student subsidies.
Jul 06, 2022
California kids will be allowed to go to school without face masks when classes resume in the fall. But public health officials, while not requiring them, still will be recommending face coverings for students and staff in an effort to prevent COVID-19 outbreaks at K-12 schools.
Jul 06, 2022
A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge on Tuesday struck down L.A. Unified’s student COVID-19 vaccine mandate, ruling that the school district exceeded its authority and that the power to require children to be vaccinated to attend school lies with the state.
Jul 06, 2022
Steve Sell, longtime athletic director and football coach at Aragon High School in San Mateo, was troubled that athletes competing for playing time might feel pressured to pray alongside a coach to help stay in that person’s good graces.
Jul 05, 2022
A new study on school district unification scenarios in west Sonoma County showed a mixed fiscal outlook for the 11 elementary and high school districts involved, projecting both cost savings and revenue losses that would require careful planning from future district leaders if boundaries are reconfigured.
Jul 05, 2022
A state agency found weaknesses in San Dieguito Union High School District’s financial practices that could make it harder for the district to prevent internal fraud.
Jul 05, 2022
Fred Segura works at his three daughters' school at San Antonio Elementary School in Lockwood. He's been a classified staff member since November 2020, primarily as the bus driver. The Seguras are one of the many families who chose to enroll their children at the rural school district.
Jul 05, 2022
The California public education system is placing mental health and equitable learning initiatives at the top of its priority list after receiving a record $128.3 billion in funding under the state budget signed Thursday.
Jul 05, 2022
Marin County public schools are in line for a big boost in funding because of the $308 billion state budget signed Thursday by Gov. Gavin Newsom, officials said.
Jul 05, 2022
A record number of Coachella Valley kids, including more than 6,000 high school students, enrolled in summer school this year. That’s more than one-in-four valley high schoolers taking summer coursework. Thousands more elementary school and middle school students are enrolled in summer school, too.
Jul 01, 2022
Hundreds of teachers and employees with Oakland Unified School District did not receive their deferred paychecks due to “a delay in processing one of two payrolls” Thursday morning, according to district officials.
Jul 01, 2022
As Chief Leslie Ramirez leaves, former Chief Steven Zipperman returns temporarily while the district searches for new chief for third time in three years.
Jul 01, 2022
Parents and policymakers will now know which public school students across California have the most prepared and experienced teachers, and perhaps more importantly, which do not.
Jul 01, 2022
A Bay Area News Group analysis of the data for the six-county Bay Area shows that San Francisco and Alameda Counties lag behind the state, with more than 75% of teachers qualified to teach the classes they are assigned, based on state credential status, compared to 83% in the Golden State overall.
Jul 01, 2022
At least 10% of California’s public school classrooms are overseen by teachers who are not properly credentialed, according to a first-of-its-kind report released by the Department of Education on Thursday.
Jul 01, 2022
In key subjects like math and science, more than 20% of courses were taught by teachers lacking needed training.
Jul 01, 2022
Most of the courses in Humboldt County are being taught by teachers who are fully credentialed and authorized to teach, but some teachers may be teaching out of their area of expertise or have not yet demonstrated competency with their subject or student population.
Jun 30, 2022
Ventura Unified School District trustees have chosen one of the district's own top administrators as the new superintendent.
Jun 30, 2022
The Long Beach Unified School District Board of Education unanimously passed a series of budget items and resolved to set aside $400 million of its “rainy day fund” to help prevent future layoffs.
Jun 30, 2022
Beginning this fall high schools in the nation’s most populous state can’t start before 8:30 a.m. and middle schools can’t start before 8 a.m. under a 2019 first-in-the-nation law forbidding earlier start times. Similar proposals are before lawmakers in New Jersey and Massachusetts.
Jun 30, 2022
The Bear Cave has been around for 12 years, first opening its doors in a smaller unused classroom in 2010 before relocating to a bigger, unused shop room on campus in 2014.
Jun 30, 2022
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling this week may have ramifications in the Inland Empire. On Monday, June 27, the court ruled 6-3 that a former Washington state football coach had a right to pray on the high school football field immediately after games.
Jun 30, 2022
A proposal to shift $60 million in excess property tax revenue to San Francisco’s schools drew passionate support as well as angry opposition Wednesday during a public hearing on the plan.
Jun 29, 2022
Some East Corte Madera parents are petitioning school officials to permanently change their neighborhood boundaries from Reed Union to the Larkspur-Corte Madera School District.
Jun 29, 2022
Bellflower Unified School District’s Superintendent Tracy McSparren has been placed on a paid administrative leave for the foreseeable future as of Tuesday, June 28 — after the district’s attorney called the Board of Education’s June 16 vote to not renew her employment contract “unlawful.”
Jun 29, 2022
The move comes almost two weeks after Fresno Unified’s board also voted to add SROs to some of their middle schools, amid more pushback from community organizations like Fresno Barrios Unidos.
Jun 29, 2022
Now comes the big challenge: convincing 55% of voters in the district to support a $198 million ask to fund high-priority facilities improvements at all Modesto public high schools.
Jun 29, 2022
Critics of the Maine decision, Carson v. Makin, who include the three dissenting justices, are warning that charters could be drawn into the next skirmish involving competing interests.
Jun 28, 2022
As Salinas residents continue to ask for affordable housing, a lawsuit between the Alisal Union School District and Stone Bridge Homes has put a hold on a potential housing development.
Jun 28, 2022
The Bellflower Unified School District will soon have a new superintendent. Tracy McSparren — who has held that post since 2018 — has been ousted from the job, with the Board of Education declining to renew her contract during a meeting earlier this month.
Jun 28, 2022
On June 28, the Central Unified school board will consider adding more police officers to the district’s middle schools, similar to what Fresno Unified did on June 15. But some district leaders have said they want to hear more about the issue directly from students.
Jun 28, 2022
The San Dieguito Union High School Board voted quietly Sunday to fire Superintendent Cheryl James-Ward after two and a half months of controversy surrounding comments she made linking Asian student academic performance to an influx of wealthy Chinese immigrant families.
Jun 28, 2022
A judge has upheld a civil jury’s $102.5 million judgment for two women who were groomed and sexually abused by a now-imprisoned South San Jose music teacher, rejecting a school district’s arguments that the jurors’ findings were unfair and excessive.
Jun 28, 2022
Modesto City Schools trustees on Monday night expressed support for putting a $198 million bond measure on the November ballot to pay for repairs, upgrades and other improvements at the district’s eight high schools.
Jun 28, 2022
Gov. Newsom and legislative leaders agree to a record California budget that includes another round of tax rebates. Here are other highlights of the agreement, including spending for abortion access, public schools and small businesses.
Jun 28, 2022
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to permit a high school football coach to pray on the field after games is expected to reopen a vigorous and probably tense debate among parents, educators and others over how far religion can enter public school grounds.
Jun 28, 2022
Meeting each other halfway, Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders have agreed to raise TK-12 general funding by nearly 13% for school districts and charter schools for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
Jun 27, 2022
Bellflower Unified School District has obfuscated the true picture of its financial situation for years — and failed to provide students with proper resources during the pandemic despite having extra money, according to a report released by the California Auditor’s office this week.
Jun 27, 2022
Attorneys for the William S. Hart Union High School District say in new court papers that all or part of a lawsuit filed by the parents of two teenagers who were shot and killed by a fellow student at Saugus High School in 2019 should be dismissed because the gunman’s actions were not foreseeable and school officials reacted quickly to the emergency.
Jun 27, 2022
San Francisco voters in February ousted three school board members in a landslide election that proponents hoped would reshape the city’s education policy and politics. Just four months later, the impacts of that vote are emerging in a big way.
Jun 27, 2022
With school shootings dominating more headlines, teachers and school staff are struggling as they think more and more about this potential threat. Everytown For Gun Safety has been keeping track of shootings on school grounds in the United States since 2013, and has reported 944 incidents since then.
Jun 24, 2022
It’s 6 a.m. and soft light hits the home in a serene Soledad neighborhood. The sound of parents getting kids ready for school can be heard from outside. Paloma Segura runs out and screams. She’s excited to go to school after spending months learning from a computer screen.
Jun 24, 2022
At Buttonwillow Elementary School, Lorena Hernandez ended the school year ready to graduate eighth grade and start high school, something she thought she couldn’t do after her experience with distance learning during the pandemic.
Jun 24, 2022
Anthony Pritchett, a senior at Nevada Union High School, sits on the Nevada Joint Union High School District’s board of education as the student member. He’s tried to enjoy his last year of high school while also trying to navigate the politics surrounding schools and the pandemic.
Jun 24, 2022
About a dozen Coachella Valley Unified bus drivers and transportation employees made public comments at Thursday's board meeting to defend their professionalism and call on Trustee Jesus Gonzalez to apologize for comments he made about bus drivers two weeks ago.
Jun 24, 2022
The budget put forth by the California Legislature includes $5 million for the Asian Language Bilingual Teacher Education Program Consortium, which helps prepare bilingual teachers in Asian languages, such as Vietnamese, Korean, Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese and Hmong.
Jun 23, 2022
In the last decade, every Los Angeles Unified School District superintendent — and there have been quite a few — has issued a sweeping visioning document promising big changes and bold moves to propel more kids to learn.
Jun 23, 2022
Three months after the West Contra Costa Unified School District school board decided not to lay off any employees, two union leaders for the district’s adult education teachers were abruptly — and, it turns out, erroneously — let go.
Jun 23, 2022
The Central Unified school board will consider adding more police officers to the district’s middle schools, similar to what Fresno Unified did on June 15. Some district leaders have said they want to hear more about the issue directly from students.
Jun 23, 2022
In response to the learning loss students across L.A. County have dealt with as a result of the pandemic, LAUSD has largely left tutoring up to the local districts and their schools, which has satisfied some and frustrated others.
Jun 23, 2022
School board members and Superintendent Alberto Carvalho are banking on a strategic plan to help them boost academic performance, ensure students are happy and healthy, and invest in staff to attract and retain top talent.
Jun 23, 2022
More than 100,000 students in the Los Angeles Unified School District have signed up for summer school this year, a more than 25% increase over last year when 80,000 students took advantage of free summer courses to play catch-up or to find joy in learning.
Jun 22, 2022
Unlike some other states, California does not require school districts to provide buses, even if a student lives far from campus. The state pays a fraction of transportation costs for schools despite soaring inflation, increased demand, a sharp jump in gas prices and a projected record-high state budget surplus.
Jun 22, 2022
The Modesto City Schools district board on Monday night unanimously approved a resolution to place on the November ballot a roughly $198 million bond measure to make facilities improvements at all its high schools.
Jun 22, 2022
Anew analysis of the enduring impact of Proposition 13, the 1978 initiative that voters passed as a backlash against rising property taxes, concluded it has contributed to a widening wealth gap, a severe housing shortage and, for decades, inadequate funding for public schools.
Jun 21, 2022
After the Slater Fire burned through Happy Camp in autumn 2020, the town’s school district came up with an innovative way to make sure some of its displaced teachers and staff had homes. They built a mini mobile home park on campus while their homes were, and are still being, rebuilt.
Jun 21, 2022
The California State Lottery has disbursed over $3 million to schools in the Yuba-Sutter area in the first quarter of the 2021/22 fiscal year. The disbursement is part of a larger initiative to provide supplementary funding to educational institutions across the state.
Jun 21, 2022
In 2017, San Francisco and Daly City made the same commitment. They pledged to build teacher housing so underpaid educators could have a better chance of living near the schools where they work.
Jun 21, 2022
Six of Orange County’s K-12 districts (there are 28) have not sent detailed pay data to the state controller’s office for its easy-access, apples-to-apples publicpay.ca.gov database, as they were asked to do back in … drum roll please … 2014.
Jun 20, 2022
The Stockton Unified School District Board of Trustees must implement better financial management and leadership policies to avoid financial trouble, conflicts of interest and increase transparency, the 2021-22 San Joaquin County grand jury said in a report released Friday.
Jun 20, 2022
Fresno Unified Trustee Terry Slatic filed another complaint with the Fresno County District Attorney’s Public Integrity Unit, accusing district leadership of violating state education laws regarding student privacy — less than a year after filing a complaint alleging violations of the same law.
Jun 20, 2022
The California State Lottery unveiled a new online tool this week that lets users search how many lottery dollars have been contributed to schools and districts throughout the state.
Jun 20, 2022
The Los Angeles Unified school board is considering an $18.5 billion budget for the 2022-23 fiscal year that officials say has $1.9 billion in new spending aimed at student achievement, social-emotional wellness and other priorities.
Jun 20, 2022
The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing agreed this week to create a new teaching credential for pre-kindergarten through third grade that will require teacher candidates to show they are trained in how to teach reading.
Jun 17, 2022
The Fresno Unified School Board sided with a majority of district parents and staff in a vote late Wednesday night to bring armed police officers back to some of the district’s middle school campuses.
Jun 17, 2022
Both San Diego Unified’s and Chula Vista’s administrator unions will fall under the umbrella of a new organization formed this year called United Administrators of Southern California, or UASC.
Jun 17, 2022
The California Lottery unveiled a new interactive tool Thursday that lets the public track how much funding area schools received from the lottery. The tool is an interactive map of the state that allows people to see how money is broken down by county.
Jun 17, 2022
Supporters of the community schools movement want lawmakers to invest more in the state’s seven-year initiative to bring critical services to thousands of schools in low-income areas, but they say “flaws” in the program’s launch should be addressed in the next round of funding.
Jun 17, 2022
If you see something, say something. In response to the rise in school shootings, the phrase has now made its way into the classroom. And soon, it will make its way to the San Francisco Unified School District.
Jun 16, 2022
The Fresno Unified School District board voted 6-1 to bring armed police officers back to some of the district’s middle school campuses starting in the 2022-23 school year.
Jun 16, 2022
A Modesto woman who is trying to get her son into a residential program in Utah believes that is the only way to help him. But there are other options before resorting to that kind of treatment, authorities said.
Jun 16, 2022
After trailing by a narrow margin for most of the week, a $298 million bond measure aimed at upgrading Alameda’s public school facilities has emerged from the latest ballot count with a lead.
Jun 16, 2022
Much of the credit for Fremont High's School rebirth, students and administrators say, goes to a restorative justice program that’s evolved beyond its original mission of resolving disputes to encompass a total transformation of school culture.
Jun 15, 2022
Months of tension within the West Park Elementary School District boiled over Monday night with shouting matches between the public and the school board and at least two physical altercations that ended with Fresno County sheriff’s deputies interviewing witnesses.
Jun 15, 2022
The board also unanimously voted in favor of proposals to use county funding to improve school security for smaller districts without the resources to afford it, and to support a program called “Camp LEAD” that addresses social issues and introduces high school students to law enforcement officers.
Jun 15, 2022
Joining a growing tide of guaranteed-income programs across California, a state bill making its way through the Legislature would give $1,000 a month to unhoused high school seniors.
Jun 15, 2022
Los Angeles Unified’s new superintendent is proposing directing an additional $1.9 billion to targeted investments next school year as the district continues to push to close achievement gaps, focus on student wellness and invest in staff for the 2022-23 academic year.
Jun 14, 2022
After months of fiscal turmoil, the Sausalito Marin City School District is close to adopting a budget that was hammered out in a county rescue operation. The arduous budget rescue apparently signals that operations will continue for next year at the district. Mares said there will be stricter controls.
Jun 14, 2022
The State Board of Education, last month, approved the first round of planning and implementation grants through the California Community Schools Partnership program, totaling $635 million for 265 school districts, county offices of education and charter schools.
Jun 14, 2022
After successfully pushing for a multibillion-dollar program to infuse high-poverty schools with an array of servicesUnited Ways of California is urging state lawmakers to split with Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and tap the breaks on its expansion.
Jun 14, 2022
A study examining LAUSD schools found that about 20% of students and educators are Black and 93% of Black students have at least one Black educator at their schools.
Jun 14, 2022
State Superintendent Tony Thurmond s pushing for a bill that would provide up to $25,000 in grants for students pursuing careers in school counseling, social work and other fields related to youth mental health.
Jun 13, 2022
Stockton Unified School District Superintendent John Ramirez Jr. has resigned after just over a year in the job. The district said Ramirez has found it necessary to care for his elderly parents.
Jun 13, 2022
While Sacramento County’s case rate has shown early signs of leveling off, down about 3% in the past week, its positivity rate has continued to climb, growing from 10.3% to 13% in the same stretch. Vaccine clinics are popping up at schools, too, to encourage families to vaccinate their school-aged children.
Jun 13, 2022
Many schools in California and nationwide were in dire need of upgrades — burdened by leaking pipes, mold, and antiquated heating systems — long before the pandemic drew attention to the importance of indoor ventilation in reducing the spread of infectious disease.
Jun 13, 2022
Measure B, a $298 million bond measure for Alameda Unified facility upgrades on the June 7 ballot, is trailing by a narrow margin, but district officials haven’t given up hope. The measure needs 55% voter approval to pass and had 53.51% as of late Thursday afternoon.
Jun 10, 2022
Kern County residents as a whole are seriously behind the curve in educational attainment and employable talent — and it’s been hurting local individuals, their families, businesses and entire communities for years.
Jun 10, 2022
Again noting sharp rises in infections among school students and staff and an uptick in COVID-19 outbreaks at skilled nursing facilities, the county’s public health director on Thursday, June 9 continued to express confidence that with proper precautions, Southland residents can safely enjoy the summer months ahead.
Jun 10, 2022
The board voted in favor of the changes on Tuesday night about two weeks after it received a letter from the ACLU of Southern California contending that the Irvine school board violated 1st Amendment rights by enforcing Board Policy 9323, which is a set of rules for public meetings.
Jun 10, 2022
Clovis Unified School District employees will get a one-time 7% raise following the board’s Wednesday evening vote and the yearlong work of a committee that recommended the action and requested a market study of the district’s salaries.
Jun 10, 2022
The State Board of Education, last month, approved the first round of planning and implementation grants through the California Community Schools Partnership program, totaling $635 million for 265 school districts, county offices of education and charter schools.
Jun 09, 2022
Two years of trauma during a pandemic that’s stolen more than a million lives and the fresh horrors of a spate of mass shootings, experts say, underscore the pressing need for more paths to social-emotional learning in schools.
Jun 09, 2022
California schools received more than $33 billion in COVID stimulus money. Some school districts, though, simply won’t say how they’ve spent their pandemic money, courtesy of American taxpayers.
Jun 09, 2022
A CalMatters investigation found that schools had wildly different approaches to stimulus spending — from laptops to shade structures to an ice cream truck. No centralized database exists to show the public exactly where the money went.
Jun 09, 2022
Fresno Unified officials on Wednesday defended the decision not to hold a lockdown at Pyle Elementary on May 17 when an angry parent barged into a classroom during the school day.
Jun 09, 2022
The Black Educator Teacher Residency (BETR) is aimed not only at recruiting Black teaching candidates like Dominique Alexander Lane but at transforming the education system for Black students.
Jun 08, 2022
Chinese and Vietnamese are, after Spanish, the most commonly spoken non-English languages in California, but they’re rarely taught in public schools because there’s not enough teachers to do the job.
Jun 08, 2022
More than 30 Pyle Elementary School teachers say Fresno Unified has failed to improve safety protocols three weeks after a parent barged into a classroom full of students and threatened a teacher.
Jun 08, 2022
A demoted San Rafael principal won a $725,000 settlement two years after filing a lawsuit against the school district alleging discrimination and retaliation over his support of Latino students.
Jun 08, 2022
Modesto City Schools trustees on Monday night expressed support for putting a $198 million bond measure on the November ballot to pay for repairs, upgrades and other improvements at the district’s eight high schools.
Jun 08, 2022
Teens in the U.S. are chronically sleep-deprived, in part because most schools start too early. That’s about to change in California, when a law—the first of its kind in the nation—goes into effect on July 1 requiring the state’s public high schools to start no earlier than 8:30 a.m., and its middle schools no earlier than 8 a.m.
Jun 08, 2022
California's incumbent superintendent of public instruction, Tony Thurmond, could be headed to a surprise runoff in November. With more than half of all precincts reporting Tuesday evening, Thurmond had 1,181,920 votes, or 48.5% of votes tallied.
Jun 07, 2022
While students from Alisal Union School District enjoyed the first few days of summer break, their teachers spent Monday learning how to barricade classroom doors and prepare for an active shooter.
Jun 07, 2022
Two years into the pandemic, students in the Tamalpais Union High School District are still receiving a significant number of poor grades, but officials say plans are in place to address the problem next year.
Jun 07, 2022
Gov. Gavin Newsom, State Superintendent Tony Thurmond, California Teachers Association President E. Toby Boyd and others held a virtual meeting Monday to discuss the community school model and argue in favor of allocating $1.5 billion in grants to create more community schools.
Jun 07, 2022
Two Sanger Unified school programs will merge next year, despite outcry from some parents who have asked the school board to reconsider. But the merging of Hallmark Charter School and Taft Academy isn’t a board decision, district officials have said.
Jun 07, 2022
Uncertainty of an economic downturn will complicate negotiations as Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders head toward a June 15 deadline to pass a state budget.
Jun 06, 2022
A Fresno Unified teacher said she “does not feel safe” in her classroom due, at least in part, to the district’s poor communication and a lack of training and planning.
Jun 06, 2022
Teachers and parents at West Park Elementary School District in Fresno County say their small school is falling apart following a tough year that saw dozens of teachers and staff leave — and two superintendents fired just months apart.
Jun 06, 2022
California’s population is falling. And the decline is especially pronounced in the state’s K-12 schools, which are eyeing the numbers as not only representing the total students they teach, but the money they receive to do so.
Jun 03, 2022
A tense meeting ended late Thursday in Fresno with a Central Unified School District committee formally recommending the that school board consider whether to change the names or logo of three city schools.
Jun 03, 2022
The Moreno Valley Unified School District’s project will introduce 42 electric school buses and become the largest electric school bus fleet in California, InCharge Energy, the company that is installing electric vehicle chargers for the district, said in a news release.
Jun 03, 2022
California voters on June 7 will select who will lead the state’s Department of Education as the superintendent of public instruction. Incumbent Tony Thurmond, who is seeking re-election to a four-year term, has six opponents.
Jun 03, 2022
If passed, the Student Success Fund would ramp up to $70 million over a three-year period, where it would stay for the next 22 years. The funds would come from the excess Educational Revenue Augmentation Fund, which has been part of a general fund used to address any city need.
Jun 03, 2022
Sacramento City Unified will return to mandatory indoor masking at all school sites Monday in response to rising levels of coronavirus transmission, less than two months after the K-12 school district ended its requirement.
Jun 02, 2022
About 55,000 retired teachers would receive new payments to supplement their pensions under a proposal moving through the California State Legislature.
Jun 02, 2022
An additional $18.8 million has been paid to San Diego County as restitution for the statewide A3 charter school scam in which the state was defrauded of hundreds of millions of school dollars, the San Diego County District Attorney announced Wednesday.
Jun 02, 2022
With students still struggling to catch up following pandemic-related school closures, Los Angeles Unified families are demanding that the school district immediately use some of its COVID-19 governmental relief dollars to provide tutoring and small group instruction to the most vulnerable students.
Jun 02, 2022
In the last six months of 2020 – after the pandemic began – there were 5,644 teacher retirements, a 26% increase the same period the previous year, according to the California State Teachers’ Retirement System. By the end of the school year, 12,785 teachers had retired – 8% higher than the previous year.
Jun 02, 2022
A Sacramento assistant principal who was harassed with racist graffiti and social media posts last fall announced filed a lawsuit against the Sacramento City Unified School District on Wednesday, alleging officials failed to protect her from race-based discrimination by students, parents and staff.
Jun 01, 2022
The American Civil Liberties Union is questioning the Irvine Unified School District board’s policy of stopping any public commenters from criticizing their staff’s work in a new letter to the panel last Tuesday.
Jun 01, 2022
After the deadly mass shooting at a Texas elementary school, Fresno Unified School District Superintendent Bob Nelson released a statement to the community early Wednesday, expressing condolences and reiterating campus safety protocol within the district.
Jun 01, 2022
The later start is required per state Senate Bill 328, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed in 2019 and which says public middle schools will start no earlier than 8 a.m. and high schools no earlier than 8:30 a.m.
May 31, 2022
Sausalito Marin City School District officials, facing potential student defections as they manage budget cuts, are calling for patience from parents.
May 31, 2022
Katherine Sanders understood she made a terrible mistake a year ago when she used a racial slur at a Sacramento middle school during an in-class discussion about the power of words. She stood before her students two days later and tried to apologize.
May 31, 2022
There hasn’t been a school board election quite like this in Los Angeles Unified in more than a decade — no record spending, much less mudslinging — and no deluge of campaign mailers with candidates backed by the teachers union facing off against those backed by charter school advocates or a city mayor.
May 31, 2022
The Sacramento City Unified School District late Friday confirmed that someone targeted a Black high school assistant principal with racist messages last fall, but acknowledged that it could not identify a suspect after a six-month investigation.
May 31, 2022
Saugus Union School District in northern Los Angeles County, which in recent years has endured a nearby school shooting, wildfires and increasing political polarization, is eliminating all four of its counselor positions and replacing them with social workers.
May 27, 2022
Last fall the school informed families that beginning in the second semester, students 12 and older, with few exceptions, would not be allowed on campus if they didn’t get vaccinated against the coronavirus.
May 27, 2022
At its peak 20 years ago, LAUSD enrolled 737,000 students. The district now enrolls 430,000 students, officials reported last week amid predictions that enrollment will continue to drop by another 28% by the 2030-31 academic year.
May 27, 2022
Throughout the Los Angeles region and across the country, students and teachers walked out of their classrooms as part of an organized protest after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, where an 18-year-old gunman opened fire inside a classroom at Robb Elementary School.
May 26, 2022
Families dropping their students off at school in Grover Beach on Wednesday morning were greeted by an increased police presence, just a day after a tragic shooting killed 19 children and two adults in Texas.
May 26, 2022
One district was launching more preparedness drills, many sent letters to teachers and parents and others were double-checking security arrangements.
May 26, 2022
Police departments in the San Rafael and Novato school districts — and others throughout Marin — were “on heightened alert” Wednesday in the wake of the shooting Tuesday at a Texas school that left 21 dead, including 19 elementary school students and two teachers, officials said.
May 26, 2022
As news of the deadliest school shooting in a decade continues to unfold, South Bay and Long Beach-area education officials are increasing on-campus safety measures — and offering emotional support programs to students in need.
May 26, 2022
A fourth-grade camping trip led to one outbreak, a high school prom to another. But even with COVID cases rising as schools head into the final stretch of the academic year, most California districts have not moved toward reinstating mask mandates.
May 26, 2022
The word “chief” will no longer be used in reference to job titles in the San Francisco Unified School District in an effort, school officials said, to avoid the word’s connotation with Native Americans.
May 26, 2022
A South San Jose school district will pay $7.5 million to five men to settle a lawsuit alleging the district allowed a predatory teacher to sexually abuse them in the late 1970s and early 1980s, failing to intervene even in the face of ample evidence of the wrongdoing.
May 26, 2022
This week’s mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, has once again stirred up debate about the merit of having officers on campus and whether a police presence would help deter a similar incident from occurring in Los Angeles.
May 25, 2022
Fresno Unified School District has hired an independent investigator to follow up the district’s own investigation into a racist photo taken at Bullard High School earlier this month, district spokesperson Nikki Henry confirmed.
May 25, 2022
The San Diego Unified School Board voted Tuesday to delay its student COVID-19 vaccine mandate a second time, at least until July 2023. The school district is following the lead of state leaders and other school districts.
May 25, 2022
Hearing a Bay Area case, the state Supreme Court appeared reluctant Tuesday to allow disabled students to seek damages under a California civil rights law, including triple damages in some cases, if a public school violates their rights.
May 25, 2022
With graduation looming and about 98% of Piedmont students vaccinated, the settlement of a lawsuit by two groups against the Piedmont Unified School District over its COVID-19 vaccination mandate is in the rear-view mirror.
May 24, 2022
Los Nietos School District’s Board of Education has terminated the contract — with no cause stated — of its longtime superintendent Jonathan Vasquez.
May 24, 2022
he Natomas Unified School District Board of Education announced Monday that it approved a 3-year contract with the California School Employees Association (CSEA).
May 24, 2022
Supervisor Hillary Ronen and five colleagues on the Board of Supervisors are proposing a city charter amendment that would fund public school initiatives designed to enhance academic achievement or student wellness.
May 24, 2022
A counselor at Wilmer Amina Carter High School in Rialto has been criminally charged for failing to alert police to allegations of sexual assault against a student, making her the third defendant charged in the case.
May 24, 2022
When Nicole Thompson teaches a math word problem to her fourth grade class in Pajaro Valley Unified, she has the class read it over three times. Thompson said the strategy really helps her students, especially those for whom English is a second language.
May 24, 2022
A San Luis Obispo County school district has agreed to pay a 9-year-old special needs student $10 million to settle a lawsuit after she was molested repeatedly by a school bus driver hired despite being convicted on a “peeping Tom” charge.
May 23, 2022
Last month, the Fresno Teachers Association presented Fresno Unified district leaders with a set of proposed investments, many of which focused on student well-being outside of the classroom.
May 23, 2022
Modesto City Schools may ask its voters in November to approve a roughly $198 million bond to pay for repairs, upgrades and other improvements at the district’s eight high schools.
May 23, 2022
Next academic year, students across California will have a later start to their school day. In Modesto, high-schoolers will have a longer one, too. And some Modesto City Schools families and district employees see the approximately one-hour longer day as bad news for some students.
May 23, 2022
More than two months after state officials lifted an indoor mask mandate for public school students, Berkeley Unified leaders will require students to mask up again for the last two weeks of the academic year amid a surge of COVID cases.
May 23, 2022
An agenda for Tuesday’s regularly-scheduled school board meeting says that Superintendent Vincent Matthews will introduce a resolution to extend the interim admissions policy for the the 2023-2024 academic school year.
May 23, 2022
Prolonged classroom shutdowns. Pandemic policies that at times frustrated parents and teachers alike. Allegations of a toxic workplace. Questionable hiring practices. Despite it all, state Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond could end up coasting into reelection.
May 23, 2022
Not so long ago, it looked as if California’s education system would be at the center of several explosive, and inevitably expensive, electoral battles this year. That’s because four initiatives, which would have had varying degrees of impact on public schools, seemed headed for the November ballot.
Increasingly organized groups of parents advocating for an immediate return to class are emerging as a potent political counterweight to teachers unions.
The teachers union in Sacramento City Unified School District released its framework for reopening for in-person learning on Tuesday, and the plan prioritizes offering the COVID-19 vaccine to all of its 4,500 district employees.
Experts have found that remote instruction falls far short of classroom learning. But surveys have shown that a majority of Black and Latino parents in Los Angeles are still hesitant about sending their children back into schools.
Some teachers are reluctant to return to classroom settings as Orange County students resume at least some in-person learning. So substitute teachers might be in demand more than ever before.
Santa Clara County schools have the green light starting Wednesday to usher in a phased return to real face-to-face lessons. But the vast majority are opting instead to stay the course through the rest of the semester.
At Lucerne Valley Elementary in Southern California’s high desert, hundreds of students have returned to in-person learning and a dramatically different school day.
Pleasanton is the latest city to take a hard look at the role of police in the community and schools — and how to respond to mental health calls. The city agreed to revise its police use of force policies and possibly remove school resource officers.
Rescue Union School District, home to 3,700 students at its five elementary schools and two middle schools, is able to open since the county has remained off of the state’s monitoring list and complied with the long list of requirements to reopen.
Masks will be required at every level. In elementary schools, half of students will end their day at lunchtime, before the other half arrives. Middle and high school kids will trade off and spend two days a week on campus.
At the June 23 Oceanside Unified School Board meeting, Trustee Mike Blessing asked staff to present an option for “100 percent return” in the fall, District Communications Director Matthew Jennings said.