LAUSD

Cynthia E. Griffin-  |   OW Managing Editor
Jan 31 2013

They join other cities in calling on U.S. Department of Education

Accusing the Los Angeles Unified School District of destabilizing their school, parents, students, teachers and community stakeholders at Crenshaw High have joined a national coalition of activists from 18 cities across the nation to take their case to the United States Department of Education and Congress.

Jan 30 2013

LAUSD is target of scrutiny

Former state Sen. Martha Escutia, now a partner at an Irvine law firm, called Tuesday for an independent investigation of what she called disproportionate sexual abuse of Latino students by teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The call came in the wake of claims that LAUSD teacher Robert Pimentel sexually abused children at George De La Torre Jr. Elementary School in Wilmington.

Cynthia E. Griffin-  |   OW Managing Editor
Jan 17 2013

Parents feel they have been neglected in the process

Standing behind their stated goal of improving the academic outcomes of students at Crenshaw High School, the Los Angeles Board of Education Tuesday voted to transform the South Los Angeles high school into three individual magnet schools.

The decision was made despite pleas from parents, students and community stakeholders who trekked to the school board to voice their concern that changing Crenshaw’s structure would actually be harmful rather than helpful.

Dec 20 2012

Important questions for the district

Parents of Crenshaw High students are preparing for several meetings with Los Angeles Unified School District officials.

The upcoming meetings will be held Jan. 8 at 9 a.m. and Jan. 10 at 5 p.m. in the school library. For additional information, call (323) 292-2981.

Crenshaw is facing reconstitution because the school has struggled to make academic improvements sufficient to satisfy LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy.

Dec 17 2012

Uniform or plain clothes officers

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Responding to last week’s massacre of students at a Connecticut elementary school, police Chief Charlie Beck said today every Los Angeles Unified elementary and middle school will have daily visits from LAPD officers when classes resume in January.

Beck said at least one police officer would make at least one stop daily at every elementary and middle school in the LAUSD—nearly 600 campuses in total. He also offered the department’s assistance to charter and private schools that request added security.

Across Black America

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.
 

Alabama
Freeman A. Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will address the annual African American Business Council luncheon on June 28. Hrabowski, who is chairman of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Education Excellence for African Americans, has a national reputation for his work studying the performance of minority students in math and science. Hrabowski, named one of the 10 best college presidents in the country by Time magazine, was a child leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham in the 1960s.
 

Arkansas
The Liberty Counsel filed a motion and a brief in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas seeking to intervene on behalf of a Concepts of Life crisis pregnancy center to defend against a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The groups seek to impose a permanent injunction before the Human Heartbeat Protection Act goes into effect July 18. Liberty Counsel also filed a brief opposing the ACLU’s request for an injunction. The “Heartbeat” bill states that when a woman seeks an abortion at or after the 12th week, doctors must test for a fetal heartbeat before an abortion is performed and inform the pregnant mother that the child in her womb has a heartbeat. If a heartbeat is detected, a woman cannot have an abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and if a mother’s life is in danger. “As we promised when the legislation was introduced, Liberty Counsel will defend this law without reservation for the people of Arkansas, born and pre-born,” said Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. “No right is more foundational than the right to life. Without life, all other rights are irrelevant,” concluded Staver.