Headlines
FCMAT provides links to California TK-12 news stories as a service to the industry. Some stories may require a newspaper subscription.
May 26, 2023
Stockton Unified graduated 542 students from Career Technical Education programs last year, up from 205 in the 2019-2020 school year. 3,586 students — roughly 10% of the school district — were enrolled in a career path program this year.
May 26, 2023
The Mill Valley School District’s board of trustees on Wednesday voted unanimously in favor of a four-year contract for Elizabeth Kaufman, the superintendent at Sonoma Valley Unified School District, effective July 1.
May 26, 2023
The Marysville Joint Unified School District recently received a $13.5 million grant from the California Community Schools Public Partnership (CCSPP) to develop wellness activities and programs at several school sites within the district.
May 26, 2023
While strong tax revenues in some states are boosting lawmakers’ efforts to increase funding for K-12 schools, policymakers in one of the country’s largest markets are preparing for a more significant hit to the education budget than originally expected.
May 26, 2023
Teachers unions in school districts across the country are demanding improved salaries, benefits and class sizes when it’s time to renew their contracts. They are also leveraging negotiations to benefit school employees, students and their families.
May 25, 2023
The Marin County Office of Education is suing social media companies, claiming they have a negative effect on children’s mental health. The suit alleges that the social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, SnapChat, TikTok and Google-owned YouTube have violated California laws for public nuisance, unfair competition, negligence and racketeering.
May 25, 2023
Like most open government meetings in California, board meetings traditionally take public comment on an agenda item after the item is presented. But this means some sessions can last well into the evening.
May 25, 2023
Over a thousand teachers union members agreed to give Fresno Unified a Sept. 29 deadline to reach a new contract deal during a rally that shut down an entire block of N Street in downtown Fresno Wednesday evening.
May 25, 2023
"Welcoming Resource Center" is what the front of the three-story building planned for E and Seventh streets in downtown San Bernardino will say once construction concludes late next year.
May 25, 2023
An election to fill a vacant seat on the politically divided Oakland school board this November could establish a crucial swing vote on intensely fought-over issues such as school closures and labor contracts.
May 25, 2023
The Pleasanton school board is set Thursday to consider ratifying the district's tentative agreement with California School Employees Association, a deal that includes increases in salary and district contribution to health and welfare benefits.
May 25, 2023
California K-12 schools “fare very well” in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s May revise to the state’s budget and Stockton Unified should think long-term when passing their upcoming spending plan, according to an education fiscal expert.
May 25, 2023
The KECG radio station, run by El Cerrito High School students, was a bustling scene on a recent Friday during a radio marathon. Students were in and out of the school’s two radio studios.
May 25, 2023
Outraged conservative parents at an L.A. elementary school say they plan to keep their children home on the school’s Pride Day to protest the school teaching students about gay parents.
May 24, 2023
Slater Middle School teachers said they are disappointed by the lack of meaningful promises after a staff meeting on school safety with Santa Rosa City Schools District Superintendent Anna Trunnell. The "listening session“ on Monday came after veteran teachers raised their concerns about a violent outbreak involving up to 150 students on May 4.
May 24, 2023
The special election to fill a seat on the Paso Robles Joint Unified School District’s Board of Directors cost $307,624, according to San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder Elaina Cano. The special election had a relatively low turnout of 39% of registered voters, with a total of 11,947 ballots cast. This resulted in lower costs than expected, Cano said.
May 24, 2023
Trustees for the school in Fairfax discussed potential cuts at a special meeting on May 18. The layoffs or reductions in hours would be a way to deal with an expected $206,000 deficit stemming from the loss of one-time COVID-19 relief money and a projected 15-student enrollment decline in the 2023-24 school year.
May 24, 2023
A judge has approved a $950,000 settlement in favor of a 15-year-old girl in a lawsuit brought on her behalf against the Rowland Unified School District in which she accused a teacher of sexually abusing her.
May 24, 2023
In several of the classrooms, students can find much more than standard school supplies lining teachers’ closets and shelves. Some teachers have toiletry closets, with toothbrushes and toothpaste, combs and hair ties, deodorant and menstrual pads, all free for the taking.
May 24, 2023
“Keep your kids home and innocent.” That’s part of the message included in a flyer being distributed in North Hollywood to protest a Pride event scheduled at Saticoy Elementary School next month.
May 24, 2023
The video shows him sitting at a desk and in a conversation with students at Bella Vista Middle School near Murrieta. The substitute discusses use of the word “negroes,” and says that using that word is OK. He says “the word that people don’t like is …” before saying the N-word.
May 24, 2023
A panel of experts told EdSource on Wednesday that for English language learners, it’s important to balance phonics and other reading skills all students need with opportunities to grow students’ understanding of the language they are learning.
May 23, 2023
Carmel High School has a new principal who will begin Monday, July 3. The announcement comes shortly after the Carmel Unified School District approved a nearly $15k agreement with Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates to conduct a search for the high school's next principal.
May 23, 2023
Comments made by an assistant principal at Carlsbad High School going against the district’s efforts to be more diverse and inclusive are catching criticism. Parents, students and educators in support of the LGBTQ+ community responded with a rally.
May 23, 2023
Years after voting to make ethnic studies a high school graduation requirement – before the state did so itself – Santa Ana Unified School District officials are facing a unique challenge as educators developing curriculum.
May 23, 2023
Jessica Lopez objected to school officials initially rejecting her son Louie’s desire to represent his Maidu culture at his Pleasant Grove High School ceremony at Golden 1 Center because school policy barred the adornment of graduation garb with other items.
May 23, 2023
On Monday, May 22, the Foshay Learning Center student joined nearly 200 of his LAUSD peers in a special ceremony for graduating seniors who have experienced homelessness or housing insecurity.
May 22, 2023
Stockton Unified trustees and community leaders will spend the weekend interviewing candidates in hopes of finding the district’s 14th superintendent in 17 years. Five candidates to be the next superintendent of Stockton’s largest school district will face questions from board members and a slate of 21 community leaders Friday and Saturday.
May 22, 2023
In the latest instance of fights and unruly behavior on local campuses, a Slater Middle School teacher and administrator were knocked to the ground during what was described as “absolute chaos.”
May 22, 2023
The Tuolumne County Superintendent of Schools Office this week moved all faculty, staff and students out of rented buildings in East Sonora that house some of its programs due to possible exposure to a cancer-causing solvent called PCE from a former dry-cleaning business that operated at the site.
May 22, 2023
This week, Nazi symbols and swastikas will not be present as 6th graders at Rolling Hills Elementary school perform "The Sound of Music" because Fullerton School District officials say the images could be used in a negative manner.
May 22, 2023
Over 100 Edison High School seniors were honored with the State Seal of Biliteracy for being “linguistically gifted,” as Deputy Superintendent Misty Her called it. More students at Edison were honored this year than any other Fresno Unified high school.
May 22, 2023
A Hayward high school remains mired in controversy months after students and educators raised concerns that a teacher was allegedly peddling antisemitic conspiracy theories and performing the Nazi salute in classes.
May 22, 2023
A Los Angeles public school program that officials portrayed as a major success for helping struggling young students improve academically is being substantially dismantled by Supt. Alberto Carvalho, who says it’s too costly and not particularly effective.
May 22, 2023
An October data breach of San Diego Unified School District’s network involved students’ medical information, the district told families in a letter sent this month. Staff and students were issued new passwords.
May 22, 2023
California’s incoming Community College Chancellor Sonya Christian doesn’t officially step into her new role until June 1, but she has an urgent agenda: enrolling every ninth grader in a college course.
May 19, 2023
Carmel Unified School District’s governing board voted not to enact later school start times for the 2023-24 school year at Wednesday night’s board meeting, nearly a year after the bill requiring later school start times went into effect for many schools across the state. Carmel Unified was exempt because of its “rural” classification.
May 19, 2023
Teachers in the Sausalito Marin City School District held a rally this week calling for higher wages as contract talks continue. Teachers are being offered 3% raises this fiscal year, retroactive to July 1, and 3% for 2023-24. Another negotiation session is set for Monday, the teachers said.
May 19, 2023
Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education President Michelle Bailey said the district’s "strong" financial status this year was driven by state and federal COVID relief funding and increased cost-of-living adjustments, leading to nearly $70 million in reserves. However, years of declining enrollment could threaten to eat into those funds.
May 19, 2023
Ganesha’s baseball and softball programs are both undefeated. The roster lists 26 players on MaxPreps that were not on the team that finished 10-12 a year ago, with only four players from last year’s team back. Nearly all of Ganesha’s baseball players and many of its softball players are taking part in the online program that allows the players to essentially be home-schooled, with the exception of being on campus for testing.
May 19, 2023
State lawmakers plan to require that all students be tested for dyslexia and other reading challenges, but the hurdles ahead point to a bigger problem with how California’s public schools teach reading. Many experts and educators say most public school teachers in California weren’t adequately trained to teach students how to read.
May 19, 2023
A father is accusing a California school board member of concealing consistent attempts to "indoctrinate" students in a California school district. Jordan Henry directed his outrage at Glendale Unified School District (GUSD) school board vice president Jennifer Freemon Tuesday.
May 19, 2023
Officials at a high school here continue to review their school safety systems and protocol, more than a week after a group of high-school age teens entered the campus and attacked a student. The incident happened May 8 at California High. Officials said the suspects — who were not students at the school — had help getting on campus unnoticed.
May 18, 2023
A teen is suing Oxnard Union High School District, saying Pacifica High School staff didn't do enough to protect her from a former volunteer football coach who is also facing a trio of felony criminal charges for alleged sexual abuses.
May 18, 2023
A bitter funding dispute between Santa Ana City Council members and school district officials could leave thousands of kids without crossing guards this year in a town where drivers treat the streets like freeways. Some council members questioned why they were paying for a service they saw as falling under the district’s charge.
May 18, 2023
The Oakland Unified School District has settled a week-long strike with its teachers union — a deal that will boost pay a total of $70 million. But as the administration figures out how to pay for those raises, could it also face stiff fines for the time its 34,000 students went without teachers?
May 18, 2023
Recommendations from a dress code committee made up of teachers, administrators, other district staff and community members were presented to the board, which voted to change or alter recommendations for three of the most contested issues: hats, hoodies and bare midriffs.
May 18, 2023
Tracy Nolasco said her daughter, a Temecula Valley High School sophomore, had to read “Angels in America,” a Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Tony Kushner. The play, set in New York City in 1985, explores the AIDS epidemic as well as religion, race, politics, and homosexuality.
May 18, 2023
San Diego Unified has a lot of work to do to help meet the state’s goal of making the majority of California students bilingual. State officials want half of California’s K-12 students to be working toward proficiency in at least two languages by 2030, and for every three out of four graduates to be considered bilingual by 2040.
May 18, 2023
For years, federal and state funding has buoyed schools like Lincoln, helping them manage the growing costs of nearly everything in their kitchens, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. But next month, a national policy to offset inflation for school cafeterias is set to expire — and in California, that’s happening right when demand has risen the most.
May 18, 2023
California’s proposed state budget revision could make a dent in the state’s ongoing teacher shortage by reducing obstacles to earning teaching credentials, such as making it easier for members of the military and their spouses to earn teaching credentials, requiring that teacher residents are paid and preparing more bilingual teachers.
May 17, 2023
The notice of intention alleges that Kelly refused to comply with public records requests, did not adhere to requirements when he was censured last year, disrupted the board’s process for school configuration by promoting his own plan and provided favorable treatment for construction trade unions after benefiting from its campaign contributions.
May 17, 2023
The district must perform a biopsy of the ground to determine what the "anomalous feature" is. That will require the school district to hire a consultant to dig up the ground and analyze the soil so it can identify whether the feature is a fault line, old riverbed or something else, Assistant Superintendent Pawlowski said.
May 17, 2023
There has to be a better alternative to combination classes than busing students to other schools, parents and teachers complained to the Modesto City Schools board Monday night. Combination classes put students from two grade levels in the same classroom with one teacher.
May 17, 2023
The Glendale Unified School District held its regular school board meeting Tuesday night, and hundreds of parents, community members and students were in attendance. During the public comment portion, the topics discussed were related to gender identity and the district's curriculum and policies.
May 17, 2023
The board had pledged to review and revise their policies and regulations on procurement, records retention, ethics and economic interest forms by May 31, a response to the Feb. 14 Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team’s audit finding evidence that fraud likely occurred at Stockton’s largest school district.
May 17, 2023
San Diego Unified School District has paid some $1.5 million to five former La Jolla High School students who said their physics teacher had sexually abused them at school, just-released district records show.
May 16, 2023
In the words of Stockton Unified alum and habitual board meeting attendee Jerry Gonzalez: “Someone blew it.” Armando Orozco, Stockton Unified director of facilities and transportation, will not be laid off after an administrative law judge said the district failed to notify Orozco by the March 15 deadline.
May 16, 2023
Carmel Unified’s board is set to approve a second amendment to its contract with legal counsel, Danis Woliver Kelley, Attorneys at Law, for an increased total of $950,000. The original contract was for $400,000, and it was then first amended in February for an increased total of $600,000.
May 16, 2023
A new school is set to be constructed within the Folsom Cordova Unified School District. Alder Creek Elementary School construction will break ground at a ceremony at 5 p.m. Tuesday, according to a news release from the city of Folsom.
May 16, 2023
A teachers strike that kept 35,000 children out of school for more than a week in the Oakland Unified School District ended Monday after the teachers union and district reached a contract deal. Many teachers returned to classrooms Monday, although it was not required.
May 16, 2023
Fourteen colleges and school districts in California are among those that will receive federal grants to hire and train mental health professionals in high-needs schools, the U.S. Department of Education announced Monday.
May 15, 2023
Area 7 trustee Lori Cisneros explained the nuances of her vote to The Californian on Friday. She didn’t vote for or against Mendiburu, Cisneros noted, and she seeks to keep communication open both with the KCSOS and her constituents. “I did not want to participate in this type of a vote where it is unconstitutional,” she added.
May 15, 2023
A Kern County jury has responded with a verdict of $2.35 million in a lawsuit against the Kern High School District, a few district employees and a formerly 16-year-old high school student with the mental capacity of a 4-year-old.
May 15, 2023
Stockton Unified's departments are in a move-it or lose-it situation with the district's $242 million in COVID-relief money. At the May 9 Board of Trustees meeting, Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services Susana Ramirez said the school district’s departments are on the clock to get their Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds “mini-plans” submitted by May 15.
May 15, 2023
Sonoma Valley Unified School District board trustees voted unanimously Thursday to approve a memorandum of understanding for Woodland Star Charter School to use Dunbar Elementary School campus facilities in the 2023-24 school year after its closure.
May 15, 2023
An administrator in the West Contra Costa County Unified School District has been appointed as the new superintendent of the Sausalito Marin City School District. LaReesha Huffman, 46, of Oakland was approved for a three-year contract starting July 1. Her annual salary will be $225,000.
May 15, 2023
After days of ramped-up talks and momentum rapidly building, the Oakland Education Association and Oakland Unified School District announced early Monday morning that they reached a tentative agreement on a new contract, ending the seven-day long strike in time for the final eight days of the school year.
May 15, 2023
A Los Angeles high school student is suing the school district and the U.S. Department of Agriculture for allegedly violating her First Amendment right to share information at school about alternatives to cow’s milk and health concerns about dairy consumption, according to court papers obtained today.
May 15, 2023
For the K-12 public education system, the governor’s proposal would maintain ongoing spending, with increases in certain areas — including more than $300 million for this year and next to fulfill the state’s commitment to providing two free meals a day to all students who are not covered by federal dollars.
May 15, 2023
On a Wednesday morning in May, a dozen students streamed into their geometry class at the Cindy Avitia High School. But instead of looking toward the blackboard, the 10th-graders opened up their laptops — and got ready to connect with a teacher nearly 3,000 miles away.
May 15, 2023
The author of legislation that would raise funding under the Local Control Funding Formula to pay for a 50% wage increase for school staff over seven years has agreed to drop a key provision to mollify critics. It’s too early in the legislative process to determine whether they will be satisfied.
May 12, 2023
Ojai Unified School District's school board gave final approval to a slate of cuts affecting about 40 jobs during its Wednesday night meeting.
May 12, 2023
The sustainability of the state’s public education system is questioned in a new report from the Berkeley Institute for Young American. The report finds that long-term structural challenges in the state’s finance system, combined with flaws in education governance, threaten the long-term outlook of public education.
May 12, 2023
The family of a girl allegedly sexually abused by her third-grade teacher at a south Sacramento elementary school has filed a lawsuit against Sacramento City Unified School District, alleging negligence and inadequate oversight by administration into a teacher employed by the district for nearly 30 years.
May 12, 2023
School board members unanimously approved the new contract bargaining agreement between the Visalia Unified School District and Visalia Unified Teachers Association. The contract includes an “unprecedented overall 10% salary increase."
May 12, 2023
The Oakland teachers strike continued Thursday after a more contentious turn the day before, as allegations of misleading figures, canceled board meetings and a doubling-down against the “common good” proposals left the labor battle perhaps more muddled and messy entering its second week than it was in its first.
May 12, 2023
The Kern County Board of Education appointed John Mendiburu as the next Kern County Superintendent of Schools on Thursday upon the retirement of current superintendent Mary C. Barlow. Mendiburu, the associate superintendent of schools, is scheduled to assume his post July 1 after Barlow leaves.
May 11, 2023
An Arroyo Grande middle school teacher who was arrested on suspicion of child abuse will not face criminal charges, according to the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office said in a Wednesday news release. Sarah Watts, a Mesa Middle School teacher, was arrested on campus April 25 after she allegedly hurt a 13-year-old female student during class.
May 11, 2023
The item to oust Flores and appoint a new board president was brought to the board by trustees Alicia Rico and Cecilia Mendez. A motion by Cecilia Mendez to appoint Trustee Ray Zulueta as president of the board — Zulueta appeared surprised — failed with no votes from Flores, Stevens, Trustee Donald Donaire and Clerk Sofia Colón. Zulueta abstained.
May 11, 2023
The board has begun to make a habit of spending up to three hours in closed session while the community — many of whom have day jobs and take time away from their families to be civically engaged at Stockton Unified — await their opportunity to speak to the board. Some leave the meetings before their chance to speak during public comment, which can be after 9 p.m.
May 11, 2023
The Novato district is planning to shift one of the Lynwood teachers to San Jose Middle School to teach the dual immersion classes, at a total cost for salary and benefits of about $100,000 annually. The district is then planning to hire a new dual immersion elementary teacher at Lynwood. The district also spent $25,000 for Kris Nicholls’ consulting services.
May 11, 2023
Elementary and middle school teachers in the San Rafael City Schools district would receive about 15% in salary increases over two years under a tentative agreement reached by the district and teachers’ union unveiled this week.
May 11, 2023
Dr. Mary Barlow, the Kern County Superintendent of Schools, announced her retirement at a board meeting this week, according to officials. Barlow was appointed as the superintendent in 2017 and prior to that she served as Associate Superintendent for two years.
May 11, 2023
The San Dieguito Union High School District board has tapped a neighboring district’s leader as its next superintendent, more than a year after firing the last superintendent amid turmoil in the district. Anne Staffieri, now superintendent of Escondido Union High School District, is set to become the fifth person in three years to lead San Dieguito.
May 11, 2023
A vocal group of parents has argued that the district’s decision to delay teaching Algebra I until high school hobbles children who are ready to take the math course in middle school. But some experts and district leaders have argued for pushing back algebra.
May 11, 2023
When Sonia Águila was in high school, her school counselor told her she didn’t think college was for her, because she was not fluent in English. It would be better, the counselor said, if she found a job to help her parents. “I cried for a few days,” Águila said, “and then I signed up for college.”
May 10, 2023
More than 300 students, parents/guardians and educators recently attended Long Beach Unified School District’s second annual symposium dedicated to learning and engagement — as a way to strengthen strategies for supporting Black students across LBUSD.
May 10, 2023
Fresno Unified saw a 30% jump in its homeless student population this school year, according to the California Department of Education’s 2022-23 enrollment data. The district reported 496 homeless students, up from 377 last year. This year’s count exceeds the pre-pandemic count of 425 homeless students in 2019 for a four-year high.
May 10, 2023
California’s public schools are getting a huge new infusion of funding for arts education starting this fall, but a teacher shortage and other factors may slow progress in offering classes to students. Schools getting the money will also have to figure out how to find time for arts classes.
May 10, 2023
As the first year of this ambitious expansion comes to a close, family interest in the program has been surprisingly lackluster and many school districts are still focused on meeting even the most basic requirements for starting this new grade.
May 10, 2023
Like seniors across the country, Karigaca and Chung have had a rocky high school experience. Their freshman and sophomore years were almost entirely virtual — and now, weeks before graduation, their school was shuttered again.
May 10, 2023
Families throughout Oakland are struggling through the fourth day of the teachers strike, but for the district’s high school seniors, the stakes are especially high. Due to graduate in less than three weeks, these students are wondering if their senior year is already over.
May 09, 2023
Anaheim Union High School District officials are committing to continue their Arabic program at Western High School – the only one of its kind in Orange County – for at least one more year after pressure from students and community members to save the class.
May 09, 2023
This academic year, 55% of LAUSD’s homeless students have been chronically absent, meaning they have missed 10% or more of the school year. Last year, that number was an even more alarming 66%.
May 09, 2023
With just 13 days left in the school year, most Oakland classrooms remained empty Monday as striking teachers walked the picket line for a third day — but the impasse is no longer focused on money or benefits.
May 09, 2023
Trustees Alicia Rico and Cecilia Mendez — who served as board president before Flores — will attempt to appoint a new board president in place of Flores. Rico and Mendez were a part of the previous board majority that has evaporated since the 2022 election; the two have since been excluded from any subcommittee assignments under Flores’ leadership.
May 09, 2023
Jeanette Rodriguez-Chien has been named the new superintendent of the Sonoma Valley Unified School District, pending board approval at its meeting on Thursday, May 11. Rodriguez-Chien’s contract calls for an annual salary of $241,00 for three years, ending June 30, 2026.
May 09, 2023
A new lawsuit alleges Santa Rosa City Schools failed to protect a 13-year-old Rincon Valley Middle School student who was attacked on campus by another student who had been expelled for fighting. The 13-year-old victim is not named. According to the suit, she received “substantial physical and emotional injuries.”
May 09, 2023
“I was not able to keep my kids safe this year,” Nicole Camarda, a first-grade teacher at Lucas Valley Elementary School, said at the meeting. “I was told that we didn’t suspend a 5-year-old, that we needed time to put a plan in place.”
May 09, 2023
Michael Kirst, the architect of the Local Control Funding Formula and then its chief implementer as president of the California State Board of Education for the first five years after its passage in 2013, freely acknowledges the law needs some changes.
May 09, 2023
Members of United Teachers Los Angeles overwhelmingly approved a new contract with L.A. Unified that will raise the average teacher salary to $106,000, a 21% wage increase over three years.
May 09, 2023
Since no games were played during the pandemic years, there was no funding for purchasing new uniforms. The $3,645 donation from Spirit of Ferndale will cover the cost of replacing three to four sets of team uniforms. Depending on the sport, team uniforms can cost anywhere from $800 to $1,200.
May 08, 2023
The Jurupa Unified School District violated a high school gym teacher’s Christian beliefs after firing her for refusing to follow policies recognizing students’ transgender identities, a new lawsuit alleges. Jessica Tapia’s suit, filed Wednesday, May 3 in federal court, seeks damages for what her lawyers argue is the district’s violation of her First Amendment and civil rights.
May 08, 2023
The Oakland Unified School District and Oakland Education Association, which represents teachers and staff, did not reach a bargaining agreement over the weekend, pushing a strike affecting 34,000 students into its third day Monday.
May 08, 2023
Los Angeles teachers have overwhelmingly approved a new contract with the LA Unified School District that will give a significant pay raise to educators, nurses, counselors, librarians and other educational staff in the nation’s second-largest school system. The deal calls for a 21% pay increase in increments of 3% or 4% retroactive to last July and through Jan. 1, 2025.
May 08, 2023
Stockton Unified has lost about 9% of its students in two years, a decline that could cost the school district in the 2024-25 school year. Ed-Data shows Stockton Unified reported an average daily attendance of 28,966 last year, down from 32,934 in the 2019-20 school year; districts did not report average daily attendance during COVID-related school closures.
May 08, 2023
Leadership Associates’ proposal was for the amount of $19,000 and Andrew explained to the board that the search can take anywhere from two to three months. The board also approved Josh Jorn – the district’s assistant superintendent – as the interim superintendent to take over from Porras in June while the district searches for a permanent superintendent.
May 08, 2023
The San Rafael City Schools district has reached a tentative contract agreement with its elementary school teachers. The tentative pact, reached at 9:40 p.m. Thursday after 12 hours of talks inside the district office in Terra Linda, for now averts a threatened teachers’ strike and also has a chance of putting some closure on months of community discord.
May 08, 2023
Work is complete on an athletic center for high school sports in San Rafael that will also double as a community refuge in an emergency. The $27 million Terra Linda High School competition-size gymnasium has been in preliminary use since the beginning of the year. An official grand opening once the work was finished was held in April.
May 08, 2023
A 40-year-old teacher suspected of making inappropriate remarks and sending inappropriate text messages to two students was arrested Friday in Lake Elsinore. Ryan Campbell was booked at the Cois Byrd Detention Center on charges of annoying or molesting a child.
May 05, 2023
At the May 5 meeting, the committee will review the list of “stakeholders” to serve on a panel to interview candidates. A list of 30 community leaders was established earlier this year to seek input on Stockton Unified’s next superintendent.
May 05, 2023
More than 3,000 teachers and other workers in the Oakland Unified School District went on strike Thursday, saying the district failed to bargain in good faith on a new contract that asks for more resources for students and higher pay for employees.
May 05, 2023
Paula Berry, a veteran Marin educator, has been elevated to senior director of curriculum and instruction. She will assume the permanent job on July 1 and earn $184,646 annually. Another longtime educator, Jeanine M. Evains-Robinson, has been named senior director of student services for the district. She will start in the post on July 1 and earn $179,225 annually.
May 05, 2023
The board voted to prioritize the next five elementary school projects. However, with only $50 million in Measure E and Measure K bond money remaining and a modernization project about to begin at McManus, another bond will likely be necessary to provide funding for the other five.
May 05, 2023
The Pleasanton Unified School District announced a tentative agreement with the classified employee union on a contract settlement including a 5.65% salary increase and improved health benefits, district staff said this week. The settlement also includes a "total 6.67% compensation package including improved health benefits."
May 05, 2023
The average annual teacher salary in Oakland Unified for the 2021-2022 school year was $70,572, according to the California Department of Education. Across the bay at San Francisco Unified, the average was $84,881, while in the South Bay at San Jose Unified, it was $86,433.
May 05, 2023
Oakland teachers took to the picket lines Thursday morning for the first day of an open-ended strike over salaries, class sizes and a long list of demands not usually part of negotiations such as housing for homeless children, reparations for Black students, and the kinds of trees used in landscaping.
May 04, 2023
The Stockton Unified Board of Trustees has hit crunch time to meet their first major deadline at the end of the month to correct the dysfunction and poor business practices that plague the district. The Board of Trustees' first self-imposed deadline is to review and revise their policies and regulations by May 31.
May 04, 2023
A judge has dismissed the superintendent and a board member of the Baldwin Park Unified School District as defendants from a lawsuit in which the former district police chief alleges she was subjected to disparate treatment after disclosing in 2015 that she is gay.
May 04, 2023
Options include bringing law enforcement officers to secondary schools and installing security scanners at the entrance to Coachella Valley High. The superintendent also laid out a plan over the next year to revamp the district's restorative justice model.
May 04, 2023
After more than a year and dozens of bargaining sessions, the Clovis Unified School District and the Association of Clovis Educators, the union of mental health professionals, are declaring an impasse.
May 04, 2023
The proposal seemed simple: Change the length of winter vacation in Los Angeles public schools from three weeks to two. Students would have the same number of school days without losing so much learning momentum.
May 04, 2023
The author of the bill, California Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, says teachers are paid significantly less than college graduates in other fields. It’s getting more difficult to convince people to enter into teaching if they can’t afford to live on it.
May 04, 2023
Public school educators in Oakland, California, are set to go on strike Thursday morning after contract negotiations between the district and the educators’ union failed to yield a deal, school and union officials said late Wednesday.
May 04, 2023
The Monday violence and trauma was so alarming that it prompted a Tuesday morning phone call between Mayor Karen Bass and L.A. schools Supt. Alberto Carvalho; the two pledged to work together to confront what feels to many parents like a school-safety crisis.
May 03, 2023
Ron Bamieh, the Christian school's lawyer, said that the district waived more than 10 months of rent — upward of $120,000 under the terms of a lease proposed by the district last summer. The school has paid two months of rent under the $12,000-per-month lease terms, or $24,000, that the district will not return, Bamieh said.
May 03, 2023
A former teacher already convicted of inappropriately touching five girls at Rowland Elementary School in Rowland Heights now faces a possible 24 years in prison for molesting a girl at Rorimer Elementary School in La Puente in 2010.
May 03, 2023
Rebekah Blackwell-Taylor, a Moreno Valley resident, was terminated from her position at Orange Vista High School after district officials were made aware last week of an alleged relationship she was having with a student, Val Verde Unified School District officials said in a statement on Tuesday.
May 03, 2023
No one works for free — except San Francisco public school teachers. But a beleaguered payroll system leaving teachers unpaid is just one reason The City’s teacher’s union took to the picket lines this week.
May 03, 2023
Oakland teachers are poised to strike on Thursday, a walkout that could shutter schools and affect 34,000 students unless a deal is reached between the district and the teachers’ union.
May 03, 2023
Thousands of Oakland parents were on edge Tuesday, wondering if teachers would strike and classes would be canceled on Thursday, even as district officials and labor leaders continued nearly nonstop negotiations to hammer out a new contract before the walkout.
May 03, 2023
The Los Angeles Unified School District is making a $75 million investment in electric school buses and chargers, the largest such purchase of any school district in the nation, in an effort to cut its carbon footprint and provide a more sustainable transportation system for its students.
May 03, 2023
Last week, the California Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in a very complex – but very important – case that had been percolating for more than a decade, dealing with how local school officials evade competitive bidding on construction projects.
May 03, 2023
Elizabeth Mirabelli, who teaches English at Rincon Middle School, and Lori Ann West, who teaches PE at that same school, have filed their lawsuit against Escondido Union School District and the state with support from the Thomas More Society, a conservative Catholic law firm.
May 03, 2023
Only 13% of students scored proficient in history and only 22% scored proficient in civics on the National Assessment of Educational Progress; 40% of students scored below the basic level of knowledge in U.S. history, a decline from 34% in 2018.
May 02, 2023
Both attorneys agreed that it's a simple case and that the plaintiff deserves damages in the form of money during opening statements in a civil lawsuit against the Kern High School District, a few district employees and the family of a one-time high school student with the mental capacity of a 4-year-old.
May 02, 2023
Over a quarter of Cesar Chavez High School's roughly 2,300 students are Asian, and the only curriculum offering a window into Asian language and culture at Chavez is Mandarin Chinese, the second-most popular language on Earth.
May 02, 2023
The district plans to reschedule the April 28 superintendent search subcommittee meeting that was canceled. The board had originally fast-tracked the superintendent search to make a hire by the end of May. Flores said meeting that timeline will depend on the final candidates and scheduling.
May 02, 2023
The Lodi Unified School District Board of Education meeting marked the end of an era, as the woman who steered the ship bid farewell after 15 years at the helm. The meeting was the last one for Superintendent Cathy Nichols-Washer, who said she was humbled and honored to have held the position during her report to the board.
May 02, 2023
It’s an old story: New teachers in California start their careers at schools with many low-income students, spend a few years, then transfer to more affluent communities. It’s a pattern that leaves these schools with fewer experienced teachers. At these schools, teachers confront towering obstacles before they can even get to instruction.
May 02, 2023
In the latest development in a legal battle that has gone on for over a decade, the California Supreme Court ruled that the controversial lease-leaseback contract between Fresno Unified School District and Harris Construction that built Gaston Middle School was illegal.
May 02, 2023
The district has been growing over the past year, reaching a milestone of 12,000 students, a figure that’s increasing by more than 300 students a year, district spokesperson Josué Reyna said. In contrast, California public schools have seen a decrease in enrollment numbers.
May 02, 2023
Oakland teachers are expected to take to the picket lines starting Thursday for at least a one-day strike, a walkout likely to shutter schools and require families to find alternative care for the district’s 34,000 students, district officials confirmed.
May 01, 2023
The lawsuit, first filed Oct. 31, asks Ventura County Superior Court to prohibit the district from using the Teen Talk curriculum as well as a confidential survey that asks students to identify their gender and personal pronouns separately from sex designated at birth.
May 01, 2023
Parents at Edna Maguire Elementary School in Mill Valley protested plans this week to increase first-grade class sizes next year. “For us, it feels like a decision that doesn’t need to happen,” Edna Maguire parent Charlie Vaughn-Griffith said of a decision to cut the number of first-grade classes from three to two. “It seems unnecessary.”
May 01, 2023
For the first time, the Tamalpais Union High School District interrupted classes this week for all 5,000 of its students at five high schools to deliver an anti-fentanyl message. Presenter Ed Ternan said in the webinar that only two or three fentanyl grains — the same size as grains of salt — would be enough to cause death in a young person.
May 01, 2023
In the wake of historic pay increases approved at Los Angeles Unified School District, teachers and school staff in Culver City are clamoring for raises of their own and rallied outside of Culver City Hall this week to make their case. The current offer to teachers and staff at Culver City Unified School District is 2%.
May 01, 2023
Rincon Middle School teachers Elizabeth Mirabelli and Lori Ann West believe they should be able to tell parents about their child’s transgender identity, according to the lawsuit. California education guidelines state that transgender students’ gender identities must be kept private.
May 01, 2023
Michael Rodriguez loves teaching 7th grade at Oakland Unified’s United for Success Academy, but to help pay the bills, he’s got a side gig making branded T-shirts and hoodies for restaurants and other small businesses around his neighborhood.
May 01, 2023
Senate Bill 10, introduced by Sen. Dave Cortese, D-San Jose, would create a working group to draw up opioid education materials for students in grades 7-12 and their parents. It would also require school site councils to include drug education in safety plans.
Apr 28, 2023
“While many believe this dramatic demonstration of power was exercised only because the accusing student was a child of a sheriff’s deputy, we are horrified by the precedent it sets for our profession nationwide,” the union wrote in an email.
Apr 28, 2023
The district’s governing board approved two separate $20,000 agreements with various legal firms: one to conduct an investigation into complaints related to the handling of sexual harassment allegations; and another to review the actions taken by Knight in relation to recent personnel matters.
Apr 28, 2023
Monica Parker, the mother of one of the young girls who Sunnyside High School Vice Principal Fred Veenendaal called “ghetto girls” and “Section 8 people” in a viral video, is calling upon the district to fire the administrator.
Apr 28, 2023
The Sanger Unified School Board on Tuesday unanimously approved Dennis Wiechmann as the school system’s next superintendent in the midst of more than a dozen colleagues and family members there to support the decision,
Apr 28, 2023
Teachers from a California middle school sued their school district and the state education board on Thursday over policies that they say require them to hide students’ intentions to change genders from their parents.
Apr 28, 2023
On Wednesday, the State Senate Education Committee passed SB 767 by Sen. Susan Rubio (D-Baldwin Park) a bill that will make kindergarten mandatory, ensuring that all children receive critical instruction in their earliest years of learning.
Apr 28, 2023
A proposed state bill could end suspensions for students who defy teachers’ orders, disrupt school activities, or engage in other types of behavioral misconduct – requiring teachers to de-escalate such incidents instead of forcing a child from the classroom.
Apr 27, 2023
They flew into San Francisco from Vancouver and they flew into San Francisco from Florida, but there was one group of students noticeably absent from the National High School Journalism Convention held last week at the Hilton Union Square: any students from San Francisco Unified.
Apr 27, 2023
Almost all of the top 10 books targeted for censorship last year in California schools and libraries included LGBTQ themes, according to the American Library Association. Advocates say that libraries in the state are getting drawn into the culture wars.
Apr 27, 2023
On Tuesday, the San Francisco Board of Education voted to approve a contract amendment with SAP America, Inc., a software company that the district has worked with since 2018, to assist with its bungled payroll system EMPowerSF.
Apr 27, 2023
Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi (D-Torrance) seeks to tackle the statewide teacher and school staff shortage by increasing their salaries by 50% in the next seven years. Muratsuchi, who chairs the Assembly Education Committee, introduced Assembly Bill 938 on Wednesday, April 26.
Apr 27, 2023
New teachers are frustrated and overwhelmed, but there are relatively simple things schools can do to keep them on the job: Pay them more money, reduce the bureaucratic paperwork and provide more support from mentors, a panel of experts told an EdSource roundtable on Wednesday.
Apr 27, 2023
Oakland teachers were cleared to go on strike after the state labor board denied the district’s request for an injunction to prevent a walkout. Teachers overwhelmingly voted in favor of a strike, union officials announced Tuesday, although no strike date has been set yet.
Apr 26, 2023
A San Francisco Bay Area ninth-grader is in police custody after stabbing a fellow ninth-grader Tuesday. The two students attended Northgate High School and are acquaintances, said Adam Clark, superintendent of the Mt. Diablo Unified School District. The injured student is recovering at a hospital. The student's medical condition was not disclosed.
Apr 26, 2023
An Arroyo Grande teacher was arrested on suspicion of child abuse Tuesday after she allegedly hurt a student in class and threw papers at her pupils, according to the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office. In a note sent to parents Tuesday afternoon, Lucia Mar Unified School District officials said the teacher was placed on administrative leave pending the Sheriff’s Office investigation.
Apr 26, 2023
The draft report makes no mention of a new potential buyer for the property, the Marin County Office of Education. The education office, which announced a few weeks ago it was interested in the possibility of buying the property and extending a long-term lease to the center operators, is performing due diligence studies to determine how much work needs to be done before it would make a purchase offer.
Apr 25, 2023
Mayra Perez, superintendent of the third largest district in Sonoma County, had shepherded the district through the pandemic, but also was criticized for a perceived lack of engagement with faculty, staff and parents. The Board of Trustees announced that they will begin the search to fill her position in closed session Tuesday, allowing Perez and the new leader time to transition.
Apr 25, 2023
With one-time federal and state COVID-19 relief funds now exhausted, the district of only 475 students in five schools from more than 450 square miles is feeling a fiscal pinch, said Adam Jennings, district superintendent. Despite that, Jennings said the district might not follow through on an earlier cost-cutting plan to lay off three or four classroom aides.
Apr 25, 2023
Oakland school district leaders have called on state officials to help block a threatened teacher strike, saying such an action would not only be illegal, but cause significant hardship to students and families.
Apr 25, 2023
Fresno Unified plans to add Punjabi and Mixtec to its multilingual program offerings next year while also expanding access to dual immersion programs like Spanish and Hmong. The district will add after-school heritage language programs over the next three years.
Apr 25, 2023
The interim superintendent for the Stockton Unified School District said Monday that the district welcomed the opportunity for an investigation into alleged fraud that was revealed in a recent state audit report.
Apr 25, 2023
Elementary students lined up behind a white curtain in the middle of a grand gymnasium at their school in northern California. They stood still as a dog handler walked a yellow Labrador along the other side of the curtain.
Apr 24, 2023
The 1-year-old bus is one of the first electric buses to roll out to schools around the county, but it won't be a rarity for long. Moorpark Unified will have two more delivered this fall and another 10 by next spring, leaving the district with just three diesel buses for long-distance use.
Apr 24, 2023
Stockton Unified School District is experiencing another wave of resignations from high-ranking officials, headlined by Interim Chief Business Official Joann Juarez. The district confirmed she will return to her previous position July 1 as budget manager, an $80-90,000 pay cut from the CBO position, according to Stockton Unified's salary schedules.
Apr 24, 2023
Due to steadily declining enrollment, the Sonoma Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees voted unanimously to discontinue the use of Dunbar as an elementary school after the 2022-23 school year, but Woodland Star Charter School has expressed interest in moving into the site.
Apr 24, 2023
The joint powers authority, to be known as the Marin County Public Financing Authority, will administer the workforce housing segment, allocating 75% of those apartments for low-to-moderate-income school workers and 25% for county government employees via a lottery system.
Apr 24, 2023
On Friday, a day after trustees awarded an $18,000 pre-construction contract for the school to BHM Construction Inc. of Napa, a Sausalito civic leader said he and his team and the district had in recent days created a potential “plan B” for bringing the property’s underground Willow Creek above ground.
Apr 24, 2023
The district announced Thursday that it has earned a national accreditation for one of its Administration of Justice pathway program through the Law and Public Safety Educational Network. The course is one of many Certified Technical Education programs offered at Lincoln Technical Academy.
Apr 24, 2023
The substitute teacher shortage is especially dire in California, where there were more than 10,000 teacher vacancies last year. From Shasta to Orange County, school districts across the state are struggling to retain teachers to temporarily lead classrooms as they search for long-term, full-time talent.
Apr 24, 2023
Fears of an imminent teacher strike vote are mounting among Fresno Unified administrators, while the teachers union president denied any such plans and called FUSD’s concerns “absurd.”
Apr 24, 2023
An 11th-grade social studies textbook has been rejected by the Murrieta Valley school board after some trustees said it contains elements of critical race theory and negatively portrays former President Donald Trump.
Apr 24, 2023
Senate Bill 274 would permanently extend the ban on willful defiance suspensions in middle and high schools after 2025. Current law bans these suspensions permanently for students in kindergarten through fifth grade.
Apr 24, 2023
The latest push for education savings accounts – a type of school choice voucher that would give parents money to finance their children’s non-public schooling – was defeated in a 5-2 vote in California’s senate education committee earlier this week.
Apr 24, 2023
With five months of exposure to the new technology, educators say ChatGPT and similar technologies have the potential to enrich and enliven teaching and learning rather than gut them.
Apr 21, 2023
In an about-face, the San Joaquin County Office of Education now says Stockton Unified is deficit spending this year, citing “serious” technical budgeting concerns in the district’s latest budget update.
Apr 21, 2023
“We’re kind of splitting hairs on this thing. I think it’s common sense which one costs the least to do, which one would have the most impact for the least amount of disruption,” Board Clerk Pallastrini said.
Apr 21, 2023
Relatives of a Southern California mother shot and killed by a school safety officer will receive $13 million in a settlement with the Long Beach Unified School District, the family’s attorneys announced.
Apr 21, 2023
While union leaders say the district has averaged more than 100 tardies per day this school year due to the bus changes, administrators say tardiness has plummeted to its lowest levels in years.
Apr 21, 2023
A bill requiring schools to inform parents if their children may be transgender might be stalled in Sacramento, but the debate is very much alive at the local level.
Apr 20, 2023
A Republican state senator and Gov. Gavin Newsom are both proposing to push up the annual deadline for releasing California’s standardized test scores, which last year the California Department of Education had withheld, then reversed course after a legal challenge by EdSource and public pressure.
Apr 20, 2023
The Los Angeles Unified School District has agreed to pay $6.5 million to a former student who sued the district and two of its administrators for failing to report that the student was molested by a science teacher, attorneys for the victim said Wednesday.
Apr 20, 2023
A national conservative movement to limit the teaching of race and racism is finding its way into California schools, leading to worry that teachers are being muzzled. Sixty percent of the anti-CRT measures were adopted in conservative, or red states.
Apr 19, 2023
A Simi Valley High School student who was sexually assaulted by a coach at the school in 2019 is suing the Simi Valley Unified School District, claiming it didn’t protect him from someone district and school officials should have known was a threat to children.
Apr 19, 2023
Wednesday’s agenda includes a number of items to be approved and discussed, including an agreement with Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates, an executive search firm located in Illinois. The agenda item requests the board to approve a $14,900 agreement with the firm to recruit and employ the high school’s next principal “before July 1, 2023.”
Apr 19, 2023
John Carroll, the county superintendent of schools, said earlier this month that if the county bought the property from the school district for $1, it would immediately extend a long-term lease to the center. At the same time, the county would enter into a major construction effort to bring the property up to current local and state code.
Apr 19, 2023
Fred Veenendaal, the staffer seen in the video circulating on social media platforms like TikTok, is a vice principal at the high school, district leaders confirmed. It also was unclear exactly when and where the incident occurred.
Apr 19, 2023
After five years leading the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District, Superintendent Alex Cherniss will leave to take over the same role at the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District.
Apr 19, 2023
The Piedmont Unified School District has had to make difficult choices to cut back some employees because of budget shortfalls. According to reports from the nonprofit group EdSource, cutbacks are an alarming development being experienced by many school districts across the state.
Apr 19, 2023
The imposing, Armani-wearing superintendent, who came to the city last year after running the school district in Miami, appears to have largely bowed to the demands of United Teachers Los Angeles rather than risk a walkout that would have been illegal back in Florida.
Apr 19, 2023
The Los Angeles Unified School District and the union representing its teachers announced on Tuesday, April 18, they have reached a tentative labor agreement that includes a 21% salary increase, a reduction of two students in K-12 academic classes, and more mental health services.
Apr 19, 2023
Al Muratsuchi, the new chairman of the Assembly Education Committee, is seeking to raise pay statewide for teachers and other school workers by 50% over the next seven years
Apr 18, 2023
In the wake of many mass shootings across the country in recent years, the Kern County Grand Jury launched an investigation into the security at various high schools in the Kern High School District.
Apr 18, 2023
The departures of Analy Principal Shauna Ferdinandson and vice principals Erin Elliott and Rachel Lasek come after they led the school through the controversial consolidation with El Molino High, a failed attempt at rebranding, a teachers’ strike, multiple fires and the pandemic.
Apr 18, 2023
Hundreds of Oakland families are pushing back against a threatened teachers strike in a rare show of opposition as district and union officials continue to argue over wages and other working conditions.
Apr 18, 2023
Sanger Unified’s school board plans to hire Dennis Wiechmann, the district’s assistant superintendent of human resources, as its next superintendent.
Apr 18, 2023
More than half of SFUSD’s student population is identified as socioeconomically disadvantaged — characterized as qualifying for free or reduced lunch and having parents who did not receive a high school diploma.
Apr 18, 2023
After two years of enrollment declines at San Francisco public schools, new data shows a slowdown in the exodus from the city’s public schools. Enrollment at non-charter public schools fell by about 400 students this past fall.
Apr 18, 2023
Assembly Bill 10 would require school districts, county offices of education and charter schools to develop and adopt policies and resources about body shaming before the 2025–26 school year.
Apr 17, 2023
Long Beach Unified School District launched a new, main website along with individual school websites, earlier this week while students were on spring break. All of the site modifications are available in Spanish and Khmer as well.
Apr 17, 2023
Less than a year after Arab Americans in Orange County celebrated the official recognition of Little Arabia in Anaheim, some find themselves fighting to preserve a previous victory – an Arabic program at a local high school.
Apr 17, 2023
Fresno Unified students could soon be eligible for automatic admissions to Fresno State, thanks to a new direct admit program leaders at the two institutions plan to formally announce in the coming weeks.
Apr 17, 2023
The Los Angeles Unified School District was found liable Friday for the 2016 death of a 13-year-old boy who collapsed during a PE class at Palms Middle School and was not treated with a defibrillator by school staff, court documents show.
Apr 17, 2023
According to a 2022 survey by the National Education Assn., Black and Latino educators were likely to quit the profession earlier than expected due to lack of career support and poor working conditions.
Apr 17, 2023
Ann Jaramillo is one of 9,623 retired educators who have had their benefits reduced between 2016 and 2022, and one of many who are now paying back tens of thousands of dollars in “overpayment debt” to CalSTRS.
Apr 17, 2023
Triston Ezidore, the recently elected 19-year-old member of the Culver City Unified School District Board of Education, is believed to be the youngest elected official in Los Angeles County.
Apr 17, 2023
California students are back in school, but many are still slow to return from the pandemic, forcing districts to try special strategies to bring students back.
Apr 14, 2023
The discovery of diesel fuel-contaminated soil at Weed Elementary School has halted excavation work for a new school and shuttered classes until the problem is cleared up. School officials planned to make a determination by April 14 about how to move forward, said Jon Ray, superintendent for the Weed Union Elementary School District.
Apr 14, 2023
San Rafael City Schools has selected two new elementary school principals for the 2023-24 session. Both were approved for their respective posts by the San Rafael Board of Education at its April 3 meeting and are expected to start on the job on July 1.
Apr 14, 2023
A group of Western High School students are on a mission to save what education officials say is the only Arabic language public school program of its kind in Orange County.
Apr 14, 2023
Oceanside and Coronado Unified are joining a growing number of school districts nationwide in suing the country’s largest social media companies, arguing that their content algorithms and platform designs are addicting children and teens.
Apr 14, 2023
At Frank Sparkes Elementary, words fly everywhere. On a recent Monday, kindergartners sang and danced as they learned about the silent e that changes other vowel sounds.
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.