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.
Dec 03, 2020
Most schools in Butte County took advantage of the brief window to reopen for in-person learning back in October. However, Inspire School of Arts and Sciences, a public charter high school that’s located on the Chico High campus, opted to stay in a distance learning model.
Dec 03, 2020
A January return to in-class learning in the Palm Springs Unified School District is not possible amid county restrictions and a surge in COVID-19 numbers, the district's superintendent says.
Dec 03, 2020
Anaheim Union High School District students won’t return to in-person learning until at least the start of the fourth quarter on March 12, district leaders decided Tuesday, Dec. 1.
Dec 03, 2020
The state’s second-largest school district had announced in October that it planned to reopen schools on Jan. 4 to all elementary students and on Jan. 25 to all middle and high school students as part of its “Phase Two” of reopening.
Dec 03, 2020
Amid anxieties over online learning and a dangerous surge in coronavirus cases, Los Angeles Unified School District parents are being asked in a new survey to make a critical decision: Will you send your child back to school when campuses reopen?
Dec 03, 2020
The day after Contra Costa County returned to the most restrictive purple tier for reopening during the pandemic, some students in Danville returned to class. A week later, all the staff in one classroom and most of its students had tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.
Dec 03, 2020
The mother of a 14-year-old Black junior high school student is suing her son’s Placerville school district, alleging the child was subjected to racist and homophobic taunts at the mostly white school and that officials did nothing to stop it.
Dec 02, 2020
The Kern High School District announced that it is pausing all its in-person instruction, services, athletics and activities because of rising COVID-19 rates in the county.
Dec 02, 2020
The California Interscholastic Federation pushed pause Tuesday on its return-to-play plans for sports such as football and girls volleyball, saying it cannot get started until it receives guidelines.
Dec 02, 2020
Seven families took California to court Monday, accusing the state of failing to ensure "basic educational equality" during a prolonged period of remote learning brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Dec 02, 2020
Oak Ridge High School in El Dorado Hills returned to full distance learning temporarily after the district reported 10 cases of COVID-19 on Monday.
Dec 02, 2020
The surge in Covid-19 cases in California is coming at exactly the wrong time for school districts contemplating reopening schools for in-person instruction.
Dec 02, 2020
It’s only a guess when campuses will reopen amid the alarming surge in coronavirus cases. But talk to educators, parents and students and they invariably know someone who has made a difference.
Dec 01, 2020
For the first time in nearly nine months, middle schools in both Norris School District and Rosedale Union School District welcomed back students, marking a big occasion not just for the schools but for the districts. Within a few days, both will have brought all the students back on campus who would like to return for in-person learning.
Dec 01, 2020
After teaching in the traditional way for more than 45 years, one Scott Valley educator has embraced virtual learning and is now teaching social studies and science to about 20 Scott Valley Junior High students online.
Dec 01, 2020
The Vista Unified School District will close its middle and high school campuses until after the holidays, returning to distance learning for all secondary schools, the district announced. The district issued the decision over the Thanksgiving holiday week.
Dec 01, 2020
The state of California has failed during the COVID-19 pandemic to provide a free and equal education to all students, violating the state Constitution and discriminating against Black, Latino and low-income families, according to a lawsuit filed Monday.
Dec 01, 2020
The Las Lomitas Elementary School District Governing Board is in disarray as it continues to face scrutiny over a racism scandal that forced the resignation of one trustee and has parents crying out to recall another.
Dec 01, 2020
A national testing organization that predicted school closures last spring would leave students far behind where they should be academically as they entered schools this fall released data Tuesday showing the reality, while worrisome, was less dire.
Nov 30, 2020
Kernville Union Elementary School District announced that its elementary and special education students who had returned for in-person learning would be returning to distance learning after Thanksgiving break.
Nov 30, 2020
Although Marin County is poised to stay in the red tier 2, the state’s designation for “substantial” coronavirus transmission risk, some district parents at Mill Valley Middle School question why the district needs to rush ahead.
Nov 30, 2020
A coronavirus database recently launched by the Orange County Health Care Agency shows a relatively low number of confirmed cases at schools since in-person instruction resumed in mid-August.
Nov 30, 2020
City Council members voted this week to pull its school resource officers from the Los Altos High School campus in response to the clamor from school officials, faculty and students.
Nov 30, 2020
Distance learning, despite teachers’ best efforts, “is driving students off the cliff,” an East Contra Costa County school board trustee concluded after seeing the last batch of report cards.
Nov 30, 2020
School administrators are having to come up with innovative ways to ensure that students get immunized against more familiar diseases like measles and whooping cough.
Nov 30, 2020
Several charter schools in Los Angeles Unified facing possible closure under a new state law were given reprieves Tuesday by district leaders wary of shutting down schools amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Nov 30, 2020
Every Monday and Tuesday since mid-August, these homeless students — as few as five or as many as 12 — have congregated in the carport, where volunteers help them navigate hours-long Zoom classes.
Nov 30, 2020
The trend is in line with school officials’ and national experts’ predictions that school closures, along with obstacles to online education, will cause massive learning loss this year.
Nov 30, 2020
The state is moving forward with changes to teacher preparation programs intended to improve learning conditions for California’s nearly 800,000 students with special needs.
Nov 30, 2020
In Tiburon, Mill Valley and Alameda parents are pushing back, saying their children face a big disadvantage if they don’t return to school, with little to no interaction with teachers and peers.
Nov 25, 2020
Virginia Ellen Schaul, the bookkeeper at Temecula Valley High for 28 years until she was fired in 2017, stole more than $330,000 from at least 60 student club accounts over a six-year period.
Nov 25, 2020
Remote learning has strained educators across the country, from Head Start to the Ivy League. But for public school kindergarten teachers like the Carters, this fall has been especially hard.
Nov 25, 2020
Latinos are still referred to as a “forgotten minority,” according to Roel Campos, board chair of the Latino Corporate Directors Association.
Nov 25, 2020
School administrators are having to come up with innovative ways to ensure that students get immunized against more familiar diseases like measles and whooping cough.
Nov 24, 2020
Some San Diego County school districts are slowing down reopening plans because the county has fallen into the worst tier of the state’s COVID-19 monitoring system.
Nov 24, 2020
The number of people in the Los Angeles Unified schools community who are testing positive for the coronavirus has been steadily rising in recent weeks, mirroring the trend being reported countywide and throughout the country.
Nov 24, 2020
Field trips and hands-on lessons are an integral part of K-12 science instruction — at least they should be in normal times. But they have virtually disappeared this school year as a result of students learning from home.
Nov 24, 2020
The Newport-Mesa Unified School District teachers union requested that its middle and high schools return to distance learning because of the recent rise in coronavirus cases in Orange County and other concerns.
Nov 23, 2020
The Morro Bay campus closed in 2001, when budget constraints and declining enrollment caused San Luis Coastal Unified School District to consolidate the school with a newer campus. Now, the district sees a new opportunity for the nine-acre Morro Elementary School site: affordable housing.
Nov 23, 2020
The Eureka City Schools Board of Education on Thursday night voted 6-1 to stop in-person instruction, including equipment-based and special education classes, at all school sites, including Winzler Children’s Center, beginning Nov. 30.
Nov 23, 2020
The coronavirus pandemic has already altered the world of education in almost every aspect. But now a new problem has been added to the fold as a shortage of substitute teachers has emerged as schools open up for in-person learning.
Nov 23, 2020
Proposition 15, a ballot measure that was narrowly defeated by voters in this year’s election, losing by just a 51.8% “no” margin, would have infused billions of dollars into struggling California public schools and community colleges.
Nov 23, 2020
More than a thousand schools in California reopened classrooms this fall with an array of safety measures to keep kids from spreading the coronavirus. So far, for the most part, educators and experts say, it appears to be working.
Nov 23, 2020
It was about a month ago, the week of Oct. 19, that Oakdale Joint Unified School District returned its 2,550 transitional-kindergarten through sixth-grade students to its four elementary schools.
Nov 23, 2020
The San Bernardino school system will not reopen its campuses for the remainder of the school year, a response to the surging coronavirus crisis and a move that may make it the first in the state to keep students online in kindergarten through 12th grade.
Nov 23, 2020
Los Angeles Unified’s school board president believes that January is no longer a realistic timeframe for the nation’s second-largest school district to reopen schools, as record numbers of new coronavirus cases continue to be reported.
Nov 23, 2020
The state’s ethnic studies draft curriculum moved forward for final approval, but faced another round of controversy in a two-day state department meeting filled with hours of public comment, line edits to the current draft and debates on who gets representation and how.
Nov 23, 2020
The San Diego Unified School District will increase training for school police and principals and change school police uniforms in an effort to improve interactions between students and school police.
Nov 20, 2020
Even before schools shut down, concerts and competitions were the first to be silenced as the spread of the pandemic became very real.
Nov 20, 2020
After five months on the job as Oxnard Union High School District interim superintendent, Tom McCoy has been appointed as the permanent leader.
Nov 20, 2020
Numerous coaches across Manteca Unified Schools have expressed frustration following Superintendent Dr. Clark Burke's decision Wednesday to suspend athletic activities districtwide.
Nov 20, 2020
There’s no set date for when Fresno County’s largest school district will reopen for in-person classes, but it will be on a part-time hybrid schedule different from other large local districts whenever students return.
Nov 20, 2020
As Fresno County falls back into the purple tier this week, Clovis Unified is closing down its extracurricular activity pods but will continue its plan to phase back students who want to return to campus.
Nov 20, 2020
In an email to families, Superintendent Jorge Aguilar said the Sacramento City Unified School District board is considering drastic budget cuts to save $18 million as the district tries to prevent insolvency.
Nov 20, 2020
The leaders of nearly every teachers union in Sacramento County are calling for public schools to remain closed while COVID-19 infection rates are surging and are demanding more transparency about positive virus tests.
Nov 20, 2020
Coronavirus infections among staff and students at partially reopened L.A. County schools spiked in the past week, but incomplete data make it difficult to gauge whether educators and parents should be worried or assured.
Nov 20, 2020
With new leadership headed to the U.S. Department of Education, special education advocates are expecting big changes in policies that affect students with disabilities.
Nov 20, 2020
On Dec. 7 San Diego Unified will start allowing middle and high school students, as well as preschoolers, infants and toddlers, to come to campus for short, in-person support sessions.
Nov 19, 2020
Jennifer Leporati, 47, was convicted of four counts of felony grand theft and a special allegation that the theft exceeded more than $100,000, according to the Ventura County Superior Court records.
Nov 19, 2020
According to Director of Community Outreach Victoria Brunn, evidence was sent to the school district allegedly showing a Weston Ranch athletic program not following COVID-19 protocols set by Manteca Unified during a team practice.
Nov 19, 2020
The Sonora Union High School district voted to revert from a part-time, on-campus education model to exclusively distance learning though the end of the calendar year in the midst of the largest COVID-19 positive spike that Tuolumne County has seen since the pandemic began nine months ago.
Nov 19, 2020
A San Luis Obispo Grand Jury investigation into the Paso Robles school district budget crisis found it was caused by rampant administrative mismanagement and a lack of financial oversight, according to a report released on Tuesday.
Nov 19, 2020
Two of San Luis Obispo County’s largest school districts modified their COVID-19 reopening plans in response to the county slipping back into California’s purple tier of coronavirus restrictions.
Nov 19, 2020
With Marin County maintaining a relative grip on the coronavirus pandemic, schools may continue with their plans to reopen for in-person learning, the county’s public health officer said.
Nov 19, 2020
Despite Butte County being moved to the most restrictive tier of the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy, no changes will be made to the school schedule for the remainder of the semester, the Chico Unified School District Board of Trustees decided during Wednesday night’s meeting.
Nov 19, 2020
The California Federation Of Teachers is calling for districts around California to reconsider reopening and return to distance learning until after the holidays when many families are still expected to gather,
Nov 19, 2020
Eight months into the pandemic, California school districts are struggling with whether to reopen classrooms as public health experts warn that the risks of returning students to class might be outweighed by the harms of keeping classrooms closed.
Nov 19, 2020
As the pandemic wears on, more Democrats say they are increasingly distressed that California's approach has widened the gap between low-income communities of color and wealthier white families.
Nov 19, 2020
Four classes at two Folsom elementary schools were told to quarantine just days after campuses reopened for in-person learning. In-person instruction in Folsom Cordova Unified resumed just last Thursday.
Nov 19, 2020
Dublin High School’s robotics team has come up with a creative solution to help clean parts of the school outside during the pandemic — a sanitizing drone.
Nov 19, 2020
Most in EdSource’s project following California families on how they are coping with Covid-19, are still struggling with spotty internet access, technical glitches and the frustration of not seeing friends and teachers in person.
Nov 19, 2020
His poor grades hardly came as a shock. Kusema Thomas hadn’t attended classes for most of the first six weeks of school at the Stephen M. White Middle School STEAM Magnet. But not for lack of interest or for lack of trying.
Nov 19, 2020
San Diego Unified Superintendent Cindy Marten released a proposed education plan for president-elect Joe Biden Tuesday during her annual State of the District address. Marten called for increased federal funding for schools.
Nov 19, 2020
An uneven recession savaging low-income Californians, but a surprisingly fast economic rebound advantaging higher-income Californians, will create a huge unexpected state budget surplus.
Nov 18, 2020
The high school is the second campus in Kern County to shut after reopening its doors to students. Horace Mann in the Bakersfield City School District closed last week after staff members tested positive. It did trigger the 5 percent threshold, due in part to the low number of students and staff on campus.
Nov 18, 2020
As COVID-19 cases in San Luis Obispo County continue to rise, three local school districts brought hundreds of students back to in-person instruction for the first time since March.
Nov 18, 2020
On Monday, Greenfield Union School District opened its elementary schools for in-person learning for small groups in preschool, transitional kindergarten and special day class.
Nov 18, 2020
With less than a month until most high schools across California expect to begin practicing for the upcoming spring sports season, Gov. Gavin Newsom hinted at a possible delay.
Nov 18, 2020
A number of districts in San Diego County have rolled out efforts to increase testing access, either onsite at school district facilities or through community testing facilities. Some are partnering with local healthcare providers to provide testing programs.
Nov 18, 2020
After a decade of declining enrollment and amid a need to cut $6 million over the current and coming school years, the Newark school board on Thursday will consider closing two elementary schools, a move that’s triggered protests and marches in the small East Bay city.
Nov 18, 2020
For public school parents anxious about their kids’ struggles with online distance learning at home, the recent coronavirus case surge is a dispiriting sign likely to further delay a return to the classroom.
Nov 18, 2020
On Nov. 6, schools across the San Joaquin County district welcomed back transitional kindergarten through third-grade classes, with half attending in the morning and half in the afternoon.
Nov 18, 2020
After a decade of declining enrollment and amid a need to cut $6 million over the current and coming school years, the Newark school board on Thursday will consider closing two elementary schools.
Nov 18, 2020
Families dissatisfied with distance learning and being cooped up in their homes during a pandemic are loading up RVs and buses with textbooks and computers and heading out to see the country.
Nov 18, 2020
On Monday, the district sent a letter to families stating that a student or staff member tested positive for COVID-19. The news was first reported Monday by ABC 10.
Nov 18, 2020
San Francisco’s public school students would start returning to classrooms by Jan. 25 under a timeline approved unanimously by the school board Tuesday night.
Nov 17, 2020
After 17 years on the job, Oak Park Unified School District Superintendent Tony Knight announced Friday he planned to retire at the end of the school year.
Nov 17, 2020
The Miller Creek School District has promoted Becky Rosales, its interim superintendent for the last 17 months, to full status.
Nov 17, 2020
With Fresno County returning to California’s purple tier of most-restrictive coronavirus safety measures, local schools that are already open won’t be forced to close again.
Nov 17, 2020
A Fresno man who sparked a movement earlier this year to change Fresno High School’s Native American themed mascot said the district’s online town hall discussion on Thursday was insulting.
Nov 17, 2020
City leaders are hoping to expand a pilot program aimed at retaining early-career public school teachers by subsidizing their housing. Mayor Libby Schaaf and Oakland Unified School District Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammel announced the pilot on Monday.
Nov 17, 2020
An alarming rise in new coronavirus cases has prompted major reopening rollbacks that also will stall efforts to reopen campuses throughout Southern California and most of the state — and affect the education of millions of students.
Nov 17, 2020
No public or private schools in counties rated purple can reopen for in-person instruction unless they receive an elementary waiver for students in grades K-6 permitted under Gov. Newsom’s July 17 executive order, or are following guidance for small groups of children.
Nov 17, 2020
Student misbehavior hasn’t vanished during distance learning, but schools are finding that imposing discipline in a virtual environment is a complicated and often murky process, and that current laws don’t neatly apply to online behavior.
Nov 17, 2020
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s “sounding of the alarm” to beat back the surge of the Covid-19 virus represents a severe setback for efforts to further reopen schools in California, as millions more students now attend schools in counties barred from offering face-to-face instruction in regular classes.
Nov 16, 2020
Horace Mann Elementary School, a Bakersfield City School District campus on the city's east side, has been shut down because of multiple COVID-19 cases, according to district officials.
Nov 16, 2020
School administrators are rushing to figure out what it would mean if Ventura County's situation worsens enough to move it down from the state's designated red to the purple tier.
Nov 16, 2020
The El Rancho Unified school board settled two disputes with its teachers’ and principals’ labor unions, taking the blame for “mistakes of the past” and promising “to begin to build back a collaborative and trusting relationship between labor and the newly established district board,” according to a letter of understanding between the unions and the district.
Nov 16, 2020
After a dip in cases over the summer, COVID-19 numbers are trending upward. Though many local cases in children were severe, not a single child has died of COVID-19 in LA County. But children can both get infected and infect others.
Nov 16, 2020
Officials, reacting to a recent state report that the average Humboldt County student misses more days of class than their statewide counterparts, linked the disparity to increased local rates of childhood trauma.
Nov 16, 2020
Orange Unified School District’s CARES program, which offers before- and after-school child care in the district, will be suspended after Nov. 20 because of low enrollment, the district recently announced.
Nov 16, 2020
On Tuesday, after weeks of asking the district for student participation numbers, parents learned that Phase One is serving 3,000 students — 3 percent of the district’s total enrollment and a quarter of the students officials said would qualify.
Nov 16, 2020
As the prospects of starting prep football practice in December grew dimmer with the recent surge in COVID-19 cases, California’s public health secretary Friday said his office is close to releasing guidelines for high school and youth sports.
Nov 16, 2020
The Cupertino Union School District has paused discussion on possible school closures in the wake of public outcry from parents and students in affected school communities.
Nov 16, 2020
During a virtual meeting on Sept. 9, middle and high school English teachers received a bit of surprising news: Until further notice, they would not be allowed to teach some of the books on their curriculum.
Nov 16, 2020
Marin activists held a community rally to urge the Novato Unified School District to follow San Rafael’s lead and cut ties with school resource officers.
Nov 16, 2020
The Los Angeles Unified School District and Associated Administrators of Los Angeles have reached an agreement regarding how to bring students and staff back to campus for in-person instruction,
Nov 16, 2020
In a letter to families, the district - which serves high school students at six campuses - said it will pause in-person classes from Nov 16 through Nov. 24 “to do our part to stabilize our community COVID-19 trends.”
Nov 16, 2020
San Diego Unified is proposing adding dozens of standards for new and expanding charter schools after a new state law gives districts more leeway to deny charters.
Nov 16, 2020
Twenty disaster service workers are helping the district assess school buildings to make sure they’re ready to open safely.
Nov 16, 2020
Organizers of an ambitious “cradle to career” education data system for California are preparing to wrap up an intensive year-long effort.
Nov 13, 2020
After weeks of testimony, review and debate, Ross Valley School District officials have denied a five-year renewal petition from Ross Valley Charter.
Nov 13, 2020
The initial phase of a $288 million Measure S renovation program involving four high schools in the Orange Unified School District has completed its first project.
Nov 13, 2020
The district is not allowing students on campus without a mask to prevent COVID-19 transmission, even if students have a disability or medical condition that prevents mask wearing
Nov 13, 2020
In late August, after five months of being closed, San Diego Unified made a big announcement: it would bring back its highest-need students to school for limited, in-person sessions with teachers in its “Phase One” of reopening.
Nov 13, 2020
Local health care professionals, who are on the front lines during the pandemic, offered their opinions about choosing a child’s learning path during this uncertain time.
Nov 13, 2020
Five novels had been challenged in Burbank. The challenges came from four parents (three of them Black) for alleged potential harm to the public-school district’s roughly 400 Black students.
Nov 13, 2020
Campuses at public and private schools in Los Angeles County could once again be forced to shut down completely for in-person instruction if the current COVID-19 spike continues to worsen, health officials warned school leaders Thursday.
Nov 13, 2020
Cops will no longer be allowed to patrol Fremont schools, officials decided during a contentious meeting Thursday night, adopting a recommendation from a 25-member task force created to evaluate the issue earlier this year.
Nov 13, 2020
On Thursday, elementary schools in Folsom and Rancho Cordova reopened, bringing nearly 5,000 students back to 20 campuses. It was the first time students have been back since the coronavirus pandemic shut schools down in March.
Nov 12, 2020
For months, as some school districts across Orange County reopened classrooms, Santa Ana Unified School District officials held off as high virus case rates in the surrounding neighborhoods made opening impossible.
Nov 12, 2020
Morongo Unified School District Superintendent Thomas Baumgarten has resigned, the board of education announced Tuesday. The board offered no explanation for his departure.
Nov 12, 2020
Central Unified School District trustees were nearly at an impasse Tuesday evening, as they sought to create boundaries for the new Justin Garza High School that would balance income levels on all campuses.
Nov 12, 2020
The Rocklin Unified School District experienced a slight uptick in COVID-19 cases nearly two months after campuses reopened. According to the district’s data, 12 students and one teacher tested positive for coronavirus in the week Nov. 2 through Nov. 8.
Nov 12, 2020
San Diego Unified School District has paused construction in several areas of a Logan Heights school renovation project as negotiations continue over saving three murals slated for demolition.
Nov 12, 2020
California Department of Education officials on Tuesday released new attendance data, broken down by reporting categories in the years 2017-18 and 2018-19, to help school districts deal with chronic absenteeism.
Nov 12, 2020
Surging Covid-19 cases pushed three more California counties into the most restrictive tier on the state’s tracking system Tuesday, causing some school districts to put their plans to reopen on pause.
Nov 12, 2020
Los Angeles elementary schools located in predominantly low-income areas were expected to be at the front of the line to bring back their youngest students to campus through the county’s waiver program, but they remain largely absent from the application pool.
Nov 12, 2020
When students in Los Angeles Unified eventually return to school on a hybrid schedule, they’ll be able to spend the day in a supervised environment even when they’re not in class so that parents can return to work.
Nov 12, 2020
Linda Darling-Hammond, a leading figure in California education policy, is heading the education transition team for President-elect Joe Biden, where she is expected to emphasize support for teachers and traditional public schools.
Nov 12, 2020
Voters have rejected a large tax increase on commercial properties, depriving schools of what could have been a significant source of revenue. Backers of Proposition 15 conceded defeat on Tuesday.
Nov 12, 2020
Voters narrowly defeated Proposition 15, the tax measure that aimed to eliminate decades-long protections for commercial properties – dashing hopes of billions of dollars flowing into California’s cash-strapped public schools and community colleges in coming years.
Nov 10, 2020
Monday marked the beginning of a new wave of as many as 3,000 students returning to the Kern High School District. It was a quiet but notable occasion at most schools.
Nov 10, 2020
Yreka High School will not have any classes until Friday and no in-person classes until Monday, Nov. 30 due to a reported case of COVID-19, it was announced late Monday afternoon. Meanwhile, Mount Shasta Elementary School and Sisson face similar circumstances.
Nov 10, 2020
With 20 public school districts of varying sizes in Ventura County, the path to school reopening differs based on size, geography, enrollment and a host of other factors.
Nov 10, 2020
An outbreak of the coronavirus has resulted in the temporary closing of the La Puente High School campus, district officials have confirmed.
Nov 10, 2020
Some Livermore school district parents, fed up with distance learning at home and not happy with the way the district is deciding whether to reopen its elementary schools, are calling on the schools to use a hybrid model.
Nov 10, 2020
Las Lomitas Elementary School District Board President Jon Venverloh is stepping down after a public outcry over racist and vulgar social media comments his wife has made about Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
Nov 10, 2020
On Tuesday the school board will consider an up to $5 million contract with UC San Diego for the university to help San Diego Unified create a districtwide, school-based, asymptomatic COVID-19 testing program. The contract would last until June 30 of next year.
Nov 10, 2020
Biden’s education plan focuses on increasing school support, including a significant boost in what the federal government covers for special education services, while doubling the number of psychologists, counselors, nurses and social workers in schools.
Nov 10, 2020
Families and officials expressed excitement as their small public school system in the Calabasas area became the first in L.A. County to reopen campuses to transitional kindergarten through second-grade classes under county-approved waivers.
Nov 09, 2020
Ventura County schools offering pre-kindergarten through 12th grades reported 36 positive COVID-19 cases between the beginning of August and Oct. 28, county officials said.
Nov 09, 2020
Some parents in the Reed Union School District are asking teachers to lobby school officials for livestreaming technology in classrooms.
Nov 09, 2020
As deputy superintendent of a school district in Palo Alto, Karen Hendricks knows a thing or two about moving students back into physical classrooms. She will be doing the same thing in her new job as superintendent of the 135-year-old Alta Loma School District, which on Oct. 26 received approval of its waiver applications to reopen eight elementary schools, despite San Bernardino County’s status in the most restrictive purple tier due to spread of the coronavirus.
Nov 09, 2020
Ending considerable speculation in media and education circles, Linda Darling-Hammond, the president of the California State Board of Education, says she is committed to staying in California, and is not interested in becoming the next U.S. Secretary of Education.
Nov 09, 2020
Police reform advocates and Fresno school leaders are gearing up for a lengthy discussion over a push to cut funding for police officers on city school campuses, a month after Fresno Unified postponed a key budget vote.
Nov 09, 2020
More than 50 teachers and parents Thursday took to the parking lot outside the Folsom Cordova Unified School District headquarters in Rancho Cordova, calling for more transparency and communication from school officials as they continue to prepare for a return to classrooms.
Nov 09, 2020
Two dozen parents and students rallied outside the Temecula Valley Unified School District offices Friday morning, Nov. 6, to ask that schools reopen for in-person lessons canceled by the coronavirus pandemic.
Nov 09, 2020
Marvin Reed is the only Black teacher at Kamala Harris’ childhood elementary school. On Friday, he was waiting, like the rest of America, to find out whether the first woman and first person of color will make it to the White House as vice president. It’s only taken 244 years.
Nov 09, 2020
West Contra Costa Unified Superintendent Matthew Duffy announced Thursday that he will not seek re-appointment when his contract ends at the conclusion of the school year next June.
Nov 09, 2020
While voters statewide likely defeated Proposition 15, which would raise taxes on commercial property to increase funding for schools, voters in dozens of districts agreed by wide margins to raise their own taxes to support local schools.
Nov 09, 2020
The California Department of Education is recommending dozens of wording changes and additional lesson plans about Pacific Islander, Japanese and Korean Americans and other ethnic groups to its proposed model ethnic studies curriculum.
Nov 09, 2020
The San Diego Unified School Board is replacing in-school suspensions with alternative-to-suspension programs and requiring that schools exhaust so-called “restorative” interventions before suspending a student out of school.
Nov 09, 2020
As education institutions — and young people’s lives — continue to be upended by the coronavirus pandemic, President-elect Joe Biden’s proposals will raise hopes for longer-term reforms of the nation’s schools and colleges.
Nov 06, 2020
The Kern High School District announced that starting Friday, its meal distribution program will begin offering an additional two days' worth of meals for the weekend every Friday.
Nov 06, 2020
Administrators, during a school board meeting this week, went into detail about their current plan to bring back small cohorts of students who are faring the most poorly under distance learning. But they also made it clear it might be a long time before all students are back on campus — or at least those among the district’s nearly 42,000 students who want to return.
Nov 06, 2020
The $183.5 million Whittier Union High School District bond issue voters approved Tuesday won’t raise property taxes, district officials said.
Nov 06, 2020
El Rancho Unified voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure to limit board members to serving only two consecutive terms. After terming out, board members must wait another four years before they can run for office again, the new law says.
Nov 06, 2020
The measure will authorize the school district to have access to $140,000,000 in bonds at legal rates to do a number of projects including upgrading neighborhood schools and removing hazardous materials like asbestos.
Nov 06, 2020
With schools reopening for in-person learning in Butte County, a Chico charter school and the Thermalito Union School District, have incorporated the use of smart thermometers for families.
Nov 06, 2020
Falling into the purple tier would mean San Diego County’s closed schools would not be able to reopen until Dec. 16 at the earliest, or five weeks after Tuesday.
Nov 06, 2020
The balance of power on the Los Angeles Unified school board will flip to a majority board that’s sympathetic to education reformers if the latest elections results — which are still only preliminary — hold once final vote tallies are in.
Nov 06, 2020
Parents, teachers and school administrators who want to know how students are doing academically during the pandemic will have another report card to turn to this year.
Nov 06, 2020
While voters statewide likely defeated Proposition 15, which would raise taxes on commercial property to increase funding for schools, voters in dozens of districts agreed by wide margins to raise their own taxes to support local schools.
Nov 06, 2020
Stuck behind a screen for distance learning, California teachers in dual-language classrooms are trying to come up with new ways to immerse their students in two languages.
Nov 05, 2020
Siskiyou County voters showed support for education on Tuesday, with 63% approving a bond measure that will allow four local high schools to upgrade security and technology and expand labs and educational facilities. The result is not final, but numbers are encouraging.
Nov 05, 2020
All schools within the Chico Unified School District will continue operating in an a.m./p.m. schedule for the second semester of the 2020-21 school year, the board of trustees unanimously voted during Wednesday night’s special board meeting.
Nov 05, 2020
With partial election results listed Wedenesday, Oceanside’s $160 million school bond proposal, Measure W, appeared to be clearing the threshold for passage. School bond measures require a supermajority of 55 percent to pass; as of Wednesday, the measure had exceeded that.
Nov 05, 2020
Incumbents and union-backed candidates are again prevailing in the San Diego Unified School Board election — proving, they say, that voters support how San Diego Unified has been handling the pandemic, reopening and other key issues.
Nov 05, 2020
“We were lucky to have him, I thought.” That is how Corona-Norco Unified School District Superintendent Michael Lin reflected on the 27-year tenure of Ted Eugene Rozzi as the district’s director of facilities.
Nov 05, 2020
Los Angeles school officials on Tuesday revived an irresistible formula from the past in winning passage of Measure RR, a $7-billion bond to modernize campuses in California’s largest school system.
Nov 05, 2020
The district’s Citizens Advisory Committee presented the six scenarios at an Oct. 22 informational meeting of the board of trustees. Within these scenarios, 10 elementary schools and one middle school are variously proposed for closure.
Nov 05, 2020
Since campuses closed in March, P.E. teachers are scrambling for creative ways to keep students physically active — with no gymnasiums, sports fields or playgrounds — at a time when experts say students’ physical and mental health is paramount.
Nov 05, 2020
Bay Area voters largely agreed Tuesday to increase their property taxes to pay to build better school facilities and would pass parcel taxes to cover costs for art, music, libraries, salaries and other purposes.
Nov 04, 2020
Measure P, a $41.6 million bond measure in the Sausalito Marin City School District, won handily Tuesday, taking 72.75% of the vote, with 100% of precincts reporting.
Nov 04, 2020
On Thursday, the State Board of Education will vote on whether to revise and shorten the state’s annual standardized Smarter Balanced tests in math and English language arts.
Nov 04, 2020
Sanger schools re-opened and began classes this week, while Clovis Unified is has started bringing back small numbers of elementary school students, with plans to return nearly all students in January.
Nov 04, 2020
The Corona-Norco Unified School District has received a waiver to reopen its 30 elementary schools for in-person instruction, the district announced Tuesday, Nov. 3.
Nov 04, 2020
A $7 billion school bond measure to upgrade aging facilities and equip buildings to comply with new COVID-19 safety standards appears likely to pass, as early returns show strong support among voters in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Nov 04, 2020
Seven urban California school districts, including the state’s four largest, have called on Gov. Gavin Newsom to adopt and pay for more stringent, uniform health and safety requirements they say should be in place before bringing students back to school during the pandemic.
Nov 04, 2020
California’s Proposition 15, the first ballot attempt to amend Proposition 13, the ever-popular 1978 constitutional amendment limiting property tax increases, was narrowly behind in returns late Tuesday night.
Nov 03, 2020
A second wave of coronavirus case spikes and hospitalizations could hit Orange County soon as the debate to reopen classrooms continues at schools throughout the county.
Nov 03, 2020
On Saturday, Oct. 31, the school board voted unanimously to name a top deputy, Sam Buenrostro, as its schools chief. The appointment is pending contract negotiations, according to a Monday, Nov. 2, news release.
Nov 03, 2020
Grades of D and F have increased in the Los Angeles Unified School District among middle and high school students in a troubling sign of the toll that distance learning — and the coronavirus crisis — is taking on children.
Nov 03, 2020
Some of California’s largest K-12 systems are asking Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state Legislature to adopt a set of statewide reopening standards and to provide funding to ensure schools have the means to resume in-person classes safely.
Nov 03, 2020
As more California public schools get set to reopen their campuses to students and teachers with a rhythm unseen in previous months, the pool of schools that have reopened so far have largely avoided triggering coronavirus outbreaks.
Nov 03, 2020
While many high schools and middle schools adopted pass-fail grading at the start of the pandemic in order to hold students harmless as they adjusted to distance learning, districts have largely reverted back to the traditional A-to-F system.
Nov 02, 2020
Some of the largest school districts in San Luis Obispo County are set to begin reopening as early as this week to bring hundreds of students into classrooms for in-person instruction during the coronavirus pandemic.
Nov 02, 2020
While Monterey County schools wait for COVID-19 levels to drop low enough for students to return to class, students have started gathering in cohort groups for athletic conditioning and more schools will permit these groups starting next week.
Nov 02, 2020
Marin public schools have lost more than 2,300 students in the last four years — including almost 1,700 in the past year alone — according to data released by the Marin County Office of Education.
Nov 02, 2020
After seven long months of irksome distance learning, many parents and students are anxiously awaiting a return to in-person instruction at Santa Monica-Malibu public schools. But a return to normalcy will be a gradual process.
Nov 02, 2020
Officials confront seemingly insolvable equations as they weigh the risks of COVID-19 transmission against the risks of learning loss and emotional harm associated with remote learning.
Nov 02, 2020
Teachers find themselves struggling to balance their instinct to push students against their feelings of compassion, acknowledging their students’ unprecedented hardships.
Nov 02, 2020
Schools in Los Angeles Unified likely won’t reopen until January at the earliest, the head of the teachers union said Friday, Oct. 30, affirming a timeline that school board members are said to support.
Nov 02, 2020
Parents in San Diego and South County, where COVID-19 has flourished, will have to wait until 2021 for their children to go back to district schools.
Nov 02, 2020
The first round of progress reports are being sent home for students caught in California’s experiment with online distance learning this fall, and for many, the grades are not good.
Oct 30, 2020
Countywide school closures in the spring due to COVID-19 immediately exposed the digital divide — with thousands of students unable to access WiFi at home, attending school online was momentarily only available to families who could afford the internet.
Oct 30, 2020
Distance learning during the coronavirus pandemic has diminished academic performance in the Tamalpais Union High School District, officials said.
Oct 30, 2020
We asked Dr. Dean Blumberg, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at UC Davis Children’s Hospital, and Sacramento County Public Health Officer Dr. Olivia Kasirye some pressing questions parents may have as campuses reopen.
Oct 30, 2020
Mount Diablo Unified schools will shift from all-online classes to a hybrid model, combining in-person and online instruction, beginning in January. On Monday, the board of the Mount Diablo Unified School District unanimously signed off on the plan.
Oct 30, 2020
California school districts are showing a clear momentum toward re-opening for some version of in-person instruction. That’s according to an EdSource survey of the 58 county offices of education.
Oct 30, 2020
This map gives a broad indication of the kind of instruction offered by all or most public school districts in a particular county — whether via in-person or distance learning, or a mixture of the two.
Oct 30, 2020
The San Diego Foundation has announced it is providing another $1 million to provide internet access to students across the county, adding to an effort that already has significantly helped bridge the digital divide caused by economic inequities this year.
Oct 29, 2020
Two public school districts in Bakersfield — and one in Taft — plan on opening up their campuses to a new crop of students on Thursday.
Oct 29, 2020
A new report from the Ross Valley School District reaffirms allegations of fraud and false statements by Ross Valley Charter school regarding its handling of a $270,000 federal coronavirus relief loan earlier this year.
Oct 29, 2020
Los Angeles City Councilman Bob Blumenfield called two of the county’s most influential people related to public health and schools before the City Council on Wednesday to answer questions he’s received from many constituents confused and frustrated that schools are still not open.
Oct 29, 2020
The Eureka City Schools Board of Trustees on Tuesday voted unanimously to allow the district’s four elementary schools and two middle schools to begin a “stepped-in” approach toward resuming in-person instruction for children in transitional kindergarten through sixth grade which could begin as soon as Monday.
Oct 29, 2020
Over 500 students have disenrolled from the Chico Unified School District since March 15, said Tim Cariss, the district’s director of Assessment and Accountability.
Oct 29, 2020
California assemblymembers demanded on Tuesday more specific statewide guidelines for school reopening, emphasizing that equity gaps will otherwise grow as some students return to classrooms faster than others.
Oct 29, 2020
Division, backlash, and disagreements are at the center of Fresno County’s fourth-largest school district’s decision to send elementary school students back to campuses next week amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Oct 29, 2020
The Redlands Unified School District board declared racism a public health crisis and said it would work to create more equitable and inclusive schools following months of comments from current and former students.
Oct 29, 2020
The contentious contest for three seats on the Santa Clara County Board of Education has turned into a proxy fight pitting charter school forces against an array of teachers unions.
Oct 29, 2020
Sixty school districts throughout California are doing the unthinkable — asking homeowners to vote to impose a property tax for school improvements in the middle of a pandemic when many have lost jobs.
Oct 29, 2020
The county’s largest school system has been offering eligible employees a five-year incentive totaling $25,000 to $75,000 to leave their jobs.
Oct 29, 2020
With student activism on the rise and so much at stake on Nov. 3, this year’s presidential election offers an opportunity of a lifetime for history and government teachers in high schools across California.
Oct 28, 2020
Wednesday marks an achievement for Kern County: It's the first day that all schools will be able to fully open their campuses to students since they were shuttered by the state in March. But community leaders warn that now is not the time to drop our guard against the pandemic that shuttered schools in the first place.
Oct 28, 2020
More students than usual are receiving failing grades in schools across San Luis Obispo County, with some districts seeing the number of F’s or D’s double among high school and middle school students.
Oct 28, 2020
Elementary students in Fresno County’s fourth-largest school district are going back to campus next week — but some teachers and parents say they have been shut out of the conversations leading up to the decision to reopen.
Oct 28, 2020
The Sweetwater Union High School District board officially hired its assistant superintendent of facilities and operations as its interim superintendent Monday, giving him a $235,000 annual salary for the new job.
Oct 28, 2020
A week after reopening its schools, Vista Unified changed the criteria for closing secondary campuses when positive COVID-19 cases are reported. Under the new rules, a campus will close entirely for two weeks if two positive cases are reported at any one site.
Oct 28, 2020
The largest district in Stanislaus County so far to begin reopening TK-6 in-person instruction during the pandemic under a state waiver welcomed its youngest students to school campuses Monday morning.
Oct 28, 2020
Students facing homelessness or living in foster care will receive additional support to help them through distance learning, the Los Angeles Unified School District announced Tuesday, Oct. 27.
Oct 27, 2020
The staff and students at Hornbrook Elementary were excited to return to in-person learning on Monday, Oct. 26.
Oct 27, 2020
After testing more than 1,000 district youths for coronavirus, San Rafael City Schools will reopen its seven elementary school sites for in-person learning starting in early November.
Oct 27, 2020
As the Sacramento City Unified School District approaches potential insolvency, the board is heading into what could be the most high-stakes local election of 2020.
Oct 27, 2020
There is little doubt that the passage of Proposition 15, which would levy new property taxes on high-value business property owners, would provide additional funds for K-12 schools and local governments across California.
Oct 27, 2020
Many California teachers are putting more focus on a range of different techniques for both routine and standardized tests, from more frequent check-ins and break-out groups to gauge understanding, to open-note tests.
Oct 27, 2020
A new disparity has emerged in Sacramento-area education: Most of the districts that have reopened or plan to reopen for in-person instruction this year are in wealthy areas, while students in poorer communities remain home with distance learning.
Oct 27, 2020
Officials confirmed three additional coronavirus cases at Oceanside schools Monday, one week after the North County district resumed a hybrid schedule that includes in-person classes on its campuses.
Oct 27, 2020
The Elk Grove Unified School District announced to its parents of more than 60,000 students a reopening plan that would bring back students as early as mid-November if Sacramento County’s coronavirus risk level is downgraded by the state.
Oct 26, 2020
It’s been years in the making and the crown jewel of the Kern High School District’s career education program, if not the district itself, has begun to open its doors.
Oct 26, 2020
Now that Ventura County has been in the red tier for two weeks, local schools are allowed to reopen for in-person learning for all grades. But many have decided to wait to bring back students.
Oct 26, 2020
Parents at Kent Middle School say they are anxious to get their kids back in the classroom, but the Kentfield School District’s upcoming hybrid on-campus instructional model is “virtually no improvement from remote learning.”
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.
Oct 26, 2020
Oceanside Unified School District is asking voters to approve a $160,000 bond measure to upgrade classrooms and improve school safety at the district’s aging campuses.
Oct 26, 2020
Corona-Norco schools have decided to again seek a waiver in hopes of bringing elementary schools back for in-person classes — days after its leaders thought the move would not work.
Oct 26, 2020
Oakland Unified School District apologized Thursday after sending out a survey to about 10,000 people that included a derogatory term for people of Asian descent.
Oct 26, 2020
Back to school is well underway in California, but how much live teaching time kids are getting with their teachers online varies depending on their school district and its distance learning program.
Oct 26, 2020
By defining these early elementary grade students as “high-needs,” schools in the county are allowed to bring these pupils back on campus, as long as they follow safety protocols and limit the number of students on campus.
Oct 26, 2020
The Los Angeles Unified School district is asking voters to increase their property taxes and approve a $7-billion bond measure that would pay for campus renovation and construction as well as technology.
Oct 26, 2020
As schools inch closer to reopening campuses in some parts of California, medical experts are warning that the spread of the coronavirus will be inevitable and schools need to prepare.
Oct 26, 2020
Students listened to teachers or worked with classmates, albeit with masks on and HEPA filters running. It’s not quite normal, but students and staff said they were happy to return to some semblance of traditional school.
Oct 26, 2020
After two weeks of limited in-person learning, San Diego Unified School District parents are finding that the level of services their children receive varies depending on which school they attend.
Oct 26, 2020
School officials in Gilroy are urging all district students ages 14 to 18 to get tested for the coronavirus, after at least one attendee of a large party there tested positive.
Oct 23, 2020
Last week, the district announced a proposed reopening timeline for all students returning in phases by Nov. 16 but that changed Tuesday.
Oct 23, 2020
The earliest Oxnard Union High School District students can come back to school for in-person learning is January based on an agreement between the district and the union that represents teachers and workers.
Oct 23, 2020
San Joaquin County Superintendent of Schools James A. Mousalimas has announced his retirement after 35 years as an educator.
Oct 23, 2020
More school districts in Stanislaus County are submitting waivers to reopen TK-6 in-person learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, among the latest being Turlock and Salida, whose boards approved plans Tuesday.
Oct 23, 2020
Los Angeles County remains in the state’s most restrictive tier for reopening but some K-12 schools have found a way to welcome back their youngest students.
Oct 23, 2020
As schools inch closer to reopening campuses in some parts of California, medical experts are warning that the spread of the coronavirus will be inevitable and schools need to prepare.
Oct 23, 2020
A question still hangs over the head of high school athletics like a dark cloud: Will sports be able to clear the hurdles created by the coronavirus pandemic and resume as scheduled?
Oct 23, 2020
Orange County’s third-largest district has announced it will resume in-person instruction in three phases to help it navigate the coronavirus pandemic and meet the needs of families.
Oct 23, 2020
L.A .County officials have made it easier for elementary schools to reopen for their youngest students under waivers, dropping a requirement for schools to provide a letter of support from employee unions as part of the application.
Oct 22, 2020
Though Butte County was moved to the Orange Tier of the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy on Tuesday, the board unanimously voted to hold off on a full reopen till at least the spring semester during Wednesday night’s board meeting.
Oct 22, 2020
After delaying a return to the classroom, some schools in the Garden Grove Unified School District are now set to reopen next week as some pushback against a return in the district carries on.
Oct 22, 2020
In a significant move to bring more students back to campus, Los Angeles County schools will be permitted to bring 25% of their students back to campus at a time, provided that they need special services best offered in person.
Oct 22, 2020
A small number of Clovis elementary students returned to campuses Wednesday to test the experimental hybrid model that combines online and in-person learning each day.
Oct 22, 2020
Back to school is well underway in California, but how much live teaching time kids are getting with their teachers online varies depending on their school district and its distance learning program.
Oct 22, 2020
With preparations for improved ventilation and COVID-19 coronavirus testing, San Diego Unified School District representatives indicated that campuses are prepared to welcome students back.
Oct 22, 2020
More than six months after their children were forced into distance learning because of the coronavirus pandemic, parents in Los Angeles Unified continue to voice dissatisfaction with the special education services provided by the district.
Oct 21, 2020
The superintendent for Kernville Union School District says that one of its staff members tested positive for coronavirus.
Oct 21, 2020
That traditional camp experience, like so many rites of passage, has been upended by the pandemic. But this month Virtual Camp KEEP made its debut as a way to recreate the iconic outdoor education experience.
Oct 21, 2020
Riverside County’s return to the most-restrictive purple tier of the state’s coronavirus reopening rules means school districts with plans to bring students back onto campuses in the near future will have to make adjustments.
Oct 21, 2020
With a few revisions, the Modesto City Schools Board of Education on Monday night approved submitting an updated waiver application to reopen elementary schools for in-person learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Oct 21, 2020
There were at least 269,000 K-12 students in California experiencing homelessness at the end of the 2018-19 school year — enough children and teens to fill Dodgers Stadium five times over — and that number was likely a gross underestimate, a UCLA report said.
Oct 21, 2020
A prominent Fairfield-Suisun Unified official has resigned from his job after finding himself in hot water over a Facebook photo posted seven years ago showing him dressed in a Confederate uniform and making racially insensitive comments.
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.