Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti speaks to members of the media outside the home of a high school dropout on LA Unified’s Student Recovery Day.

LA Unified officials and a team of volunteers hit the streets Friday, knocking on the doors of high school dropouts in an effort to get them re-enrolled in school as part of the district’s Student Recovery Day.

Among the door knockers was Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who along with LA Unified Board President Steve Zimmer, board member Scott Schmerelson and Superintendent Michelle King visited the home of a former student living near the campus of USC. After about 20 minutes, as a mass of reporters waited outside, Garcetti and the rest emerged victorious. The young man inside, Jeffery, had agreed to come back to school.

Jeffery had apparently dropped out to work and help his family, but Garcetti and Zimmer announced they had convinced him to attend night classes at an adult school so that he could continue with his day job. Not only that, but his cousin may also return to school and his grandma might start attending adult school.

“This is a city of second chances. We believe in people, and we want to come face to face,” Garcetti said. “That’s why we have a 75 percent graduation rate, the highest that we have had in LAUSD in modern history. That’s why we are coming and finding folks, and we understand they have struggles like working for their families to support them, but they shouldn’t have to choose between a job and a degree. We are going to make sure he has both.”

Student Recovery Day has been happening for eight years at the district and has resulted in nearly 5,000 students coming back to school. District employees from the central office, school board members and their staff, school personnel and volunteers from organizations like City Year fan out into neighborhoods and contact former students and their families while making them aware of the various services the district can offer.

This year, the recovery efforts were focused on dropouts from seven high schools, one in each board district. They were West Adams, Washington Prep, Canoga Park, Bernstein, Marquez, Sun Valley and Dymally high schools. The district reported a total of 230 volunteers visited homes Friday; it will announce next week how many students were visited and recovered.

Less than an hour before Garcetti exited Jeffery’s home, a press conference had concluded at West Adams Preparatory High School that featured five students who had either dropped out of school and returned or had faced extreme challenges just to get into school. One was Glenda Abrego, who grew up in El Salvador but decided to make the trek to America by herself. She was arrested at the Mexican border by immigration officials and spent several months in a detention center in Texas before coming to Los Angeles and enrolling at West Adams.

Abrego credited the counselors and teachers at West Adams with helping her find housing, financial support, legal aid and helping her learn English.

“As an immigrant I have a language problem that made me struggle a lot. In addition to that I didn’t have a place to live and no one to take care of me,” she said. “Now I have a place to live and friends here at West Adams. … Now I am here in front of you and I am incredibly grateful to those who have supported me.”

LA Unified school board President Steve Zimmer outside a home on Student Recovery Day.

About an hour after the mass of reporters swarmed Garcetti and the other district leaders outside Jeffery’s house, Zimmer stood on a quiet sidewalk next to a few district employees, looking over the fence of an apartment building on the 3000 block of West 12th Street. The address he was looking for didn’t seem to exist on the block, and he and his team had already gone to a different wrong address on 12th Avenue. A staffer made a call, and they realized they were at the wrong address again and should be at West 12th Place, one block over.

“This is part of Recovery Day, yes, standing on sidewalks,” Zimmer said when asked if this kind of thing happened often.

After driving the one block, Zimmer and his team entered the correct apartment. About 20 minutes later they exited and reported another success. In an hour a team from the district was going to come back and take the young man inside to a nearby continuation school. Zimmer said he was a quiet kid who maybe suffered from some depression and had lost interest in school.

“He’s a super nice kid and he’s not going to do anything to draw attention to himself. He’s just not able to connect at school and that’s not some like marquee thing. We had kids today (at the press conference) who went through a lot of dramatic stuff,” Zimmer said. “This is a lot more typical of kids who are struggling academically, struggling emotionally, family struggling economically, and school kind of like just — there’s not a motivation there because they don’t see the connection yet to the future.”

Zimmer added, “He’s going to go today. He gets it, he’s not resistant. It’s just how do you keep him motivated? That’s going to be the big challenge here. This is not unusual. This is not ‘the press conference story.’ This is the work our counselors do every day. I’m confident he is going to go back today. The issue is going to be how do we keep on him?”

LA Unified is fresh, clean, safe and on the upswing.

That was the message Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, LA Unified Superintendent Michelle King, school board President Steve Zimmer, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education James Cole Jr. and board member George McKenna delivered at a news conference from the library of John C. Fremont High School in South LA this morning to help kick off the first official day of classes at the district.

The location of the library was strategically chosen, as it is brand new.

“We are so excited that this district and this city and our voters have given us the resources to do this, to take a school district that just a decade ago was literally falling apart and now has some of the most shining examples of what we should make our campuses feel like and look like,” said Garcetti, referring to the district’s $27 billion bond program to build 131 new schools, the last of which are set to be completed next year.

All of the leaders who took to the podium highlighted various positive aspects of the district, in a coordinated effort to project LA Unified as a place with a bright future — and not one facing serious budget shortfalls, potential labor unrest and continued declining enrollment.

Zimmer started off, setting the tone. “We have an unprecedented and I would say best-in-the-nation partnership with the city of Los Angeles.”

Garcetti took the opportunity to highlight the numerous ways the city and the district partner together and how the city directly aids LA’s youth. The programs he highlighted included the family source centers and other shared facilities, a summer jobs program called Hire LA’s Youth, anti-gang efforts like Summer Night Lights, an initiative to get LA Unified students signed up for library cards and efforts to boost graduation like Student Recovery Day. He also discussed a new program, Los Angeles College Promise, in which the city has partnered with the Los Angeles Community College District and LA Unified to offer a free year of community college to district graduates.

Referring to a group of high school students who were lined up behind the podium, Garcetti said, “So for our seniors here today, this is our promise to you. When you graduate, community college will be free this next year.”

Garcetti also had high praise for King, who took over as superintendent in January. Referring to her recent efforts to cool relations between the district and charter schools at the “Promising Practices” forum, Garcetti said King is “building a bridge” between reformers and teachers.

During her turn at the podium, King also spoke of the library card program, saying the district and the city are working together “for each and every LA Unified student to have a library card. There are applications in each and every enrollment packet.”

Cole, who said he grew up in a rough neighborhood in Chicago, praised LA Unified for its leadership in the nation on issues like LGBTQ student rights and restorative justice. He then remembered a high school teacher who encouraged him to “dream big” and get a college degree. Speaking to the students, he said, “So what I encourage each and every one of you to do is to find a teacher, find a coach, find a mentor who can help you along the way and help you do great things while you are here at Fremont.”

All in all, the message was clear, and perhaps best summed up by Zimmer in his remarks: “Fremont, this library, the enrollment today, and what you can see in the classes here and the amazing young people that stand with us today represent what is possible when dreams come true though public education.”

That decision was made by LA Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines, who was supposed to be on his way to retirement this week.

“I made the decision to close the schools,” Cortines said at a morning press conference, flanked by the leaders of the city, the police chief, the sheriff and the school board.

Already seeming to anticipate criticism for causing such a commotion across the city by shutting down the schools, Garcetti said, “Decisions need to be made in a matter of minutes.” He was concerned that if this threat turned out to be a simple scare he doesn’t want it to result in people not speaking up the next time a threat may occur.

“We want freedom and liberty, but also to be safe,” the mayor said, referring people to the Los Angeles tipline iWatch.

The city was put in a Level 1 alert, and Garcetti said, “It is my number one priority keeping the city safe, whether or not anything happens.”

Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell also touted Cortines’s brave decision “to ensure that 700,000 young people are safe.”

Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck pointed out, “It’s very easy in hindsight to criticize the decision when you have no responsibility.” He said that Cortines’s decision was based on solid facts to make the determination. “Southern California has been through a lot in recent weeks,” Beck said, alluding to the mass shootings in San Bernardino.

Board member Mónica García said, “No one takes closing the district lightly, it’s a massive undertaking. Believe me, this decision was not taken lightly.”

UTLA president Alex Caputo-Pearl said he was awakened around 6:30 in the morning by a call from assistant superintendent Michelle King and told about the school shut-down. Within a few minutes, school board superintendent Steve Zimmer also called.

“They didn’t have many details but said there was a credible threat, and I trust their judgment on the issue,” said Caputo-Pearl, who spent much of the day at district headquarters. “I’m here to help out any way we can.”

Zimmer said he was impressed with how the different agencies throughout the city reacted to the threat. “I have never been prouder to be a Los Angeleno than I have been in the last four hours,” he said at the morning press conference. “This is not an easy situation. The only thing that’s more important than our education is the safety of our children.”

School board member George McKenna said that the day off from school was an educational experience. “It isn’t wasted time, we’re going through the educational process right now. Teach your children we wanted to do this on their behalf.”

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An email that threatened violence with “explosive devices, assault rifles and machine pistols” provided LA Unified officials today with the rationale for closing all schools across the district.

Those details and others, which began emerging today, convinced city and school officials that closing schools was the more prudent action, especially in the aftermath of the deadly terrorist attack two weeks ago in San Bernardino and the attacks in Paris that proceeded it.

Speaking at a mid-morning press conference, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said an email came to several of the school board members threatening attacks specifically to LA Unified schools, but not any school in particular. He said the email came from Frankfurt, Germany, but it’s origin, he said, “is believed to be from much closer than Germany.”

He said there was an  “implied threat of explosive devices and a specific threat of attack with assault rifles and machine pistols.”

The email reached the district late last night, prompting the city to declare a Level 1 security alert.

Mayor Eric Garcetti said the email referenced “violence to students and could come in a number of forms of violence with weapons already in place to bring that violence about.”

Rep. Brad Sherman, a Democrat who represents parts of the San Fernando Valley, appeared on MSNBC and disclosed several more details from the email, including the writer’s claim to be “a devout Muslim” who had “32 accomplices” with the ability to use “nerve gas.”

In a statement he had issued earlier, Sherman said, “The author claims to be an extremist Muslim who has teamed up with local jihadists. We do not know whether these claims are true or a lie. We do not know whether this email is from a devout Muslim who supports jihadists or perhaps a non-Muslim with a different agenda.”

Officials appearing at the news briefing, including LA Unified’s out-going superintendent, Ramon Cortines, said the investigation of the threat is now being conducted by the LA police and the FBI, with authorities checking all 1,100 district schools, including charters for any problems. Altogether 13 law enforcement agencies are involved in the investigation, district officials said.

Police officials said they are still vetting the threat to see if it’s a hoax, which was apparently the case in New York City, which also received an email today threatening the city schools.

In explaining why the decision to close schools was made, Beck said, “These are very high stakes; it’s not like picking the color of a car or what you’re going to eat for dinner.”

Wearing a yellow baseball cap, dark sweater and sneakers, Cortines said, “Students and parents must understand this was done in the best interest of the city.”

LA Mayor Eric Garcetti at Leland Street Elementary. (Credit: Twitter @LAMayorsOffice)

Los Angles Mayor Eric Garcetti today announced a new program that will help identify students in LA Unified whose parents are veterans or active-duty service members so that they can receive extra resources available to them.

Joining Garcetti at Leland Elementary School in San Pedro, where he announced the new program, were LA Unified school board member Richard Vladovic and LA City Councilman Joe Buscaino.

“For too long our city has been unable to strategically target resources in a way that directly and efficiently supports our military community,” Garcetti said in a statement. “This small change will radically increase our capacity to support veterans and their families as they adjust to life during and after military service.”

The program, announced the day after Veterans Day, represents a collaboration among the Mayor’s Office of Veterans Affairs, LA Unified, the University of Southern California’s Building Capacity Project and the Los Angeles Veterans Collaborative, according a press release from the mayor’s office.

As part of the program, the school district will identify students from military families by adding questions to the district’s mandatory student emergency information forms, which will then “help district and school officials direct critical services and apply for new federal funding for campuses with high enrollment among military and veteran-connected families,” according to the release.

Children of veterans experience high levels of stress and are at an increased risk for substance abuse, weapon carrying, victimization by peers and thoughts of suicide, according to the mayor’s office, and the new forms will help get these students more recreational opportunities, tutoring resources and advocacy assistance.

“As a veteran, I have seen firsthand the sacrifices made by our men and women in uniform. Their families also pay a price,” LA Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines said in a statement. “Because of frequent moves, their children are often the ‘new kids in class,’ who find themselves trying to fit in months after school started. At LA Unified, we want to do everything we can to help these students and their families, who deserve our heartfelt appreciation for their service.”

Vladovic posted a picture to his Facebook page from the event that featured him on stage showing off his old field jacket from his Army days to the students gathered in the school’s auditorium.

“It is very important that we not only honor the brave men and women who have served this nation, but educate the next generation on how to honor those who serve and inspire them to be the future leaders and defenders of our nation,” Vladovic said in a statement. “We must remember their service, as well as their sacrifices; the time spent in hardship, away from home; and, on occasion, the sacrifice of their very lives to keep us safe.”

As part of the program, 5,000 resource guides authored by the Building Capacity and Welcoming Practices team will be distributed throughout the district “to assist schools in developing school-based interventions for children in military, Guard, Reserve and veteran families,” according to the release.

The collaboration “has been remarkable,” Ron Avi Astor, the USC School of Social Work professor, who co-authored the guides, said in a statement. “Being able to provide services and resources to those schools with high concentrations of military and veteran students will be a model for other mega urban school districts like Chicago and NYC where a large proportion of veteran and military families live.”

LA Unified Ramon Cortines has amended his decision yesterday to halt all film and TV productions on LA Unified campuses. In a statement just released by the district, Cortines said he will allow several projects in the works to move forward. He also said the district will approve new projects on a case-by-case basis while it reviews its procedures.

“I am satisfied that the use of our schools is appropriate at this time,” Cortines said in a statement.

Cortines’ abrupt cancelling of all productions on district campuses came a day after NBC Los Angeles aired a segment criticizing the district’s oversight of film and TV productions. According to the story, LA Unified has profited roughly $10 million over the last five years by allowing its campuses to be used as location shoots.

Cortines said he understands “the importance of filming in Los Angeles and the benefits it provides to our schools and the local economy.”

“This morning, I met with the District’s legal and facilities teams to review all filming activities previously approved and under way, as well as all filming applications pending final execution,” he said. “Based on the information presented to me, I am satisfied that the use of our schools is appropriate at this time.

“As a result, I anticipate that five filming-related licenses will move forward over the next week. I will not formally lift the suspension until staff has completed their review of existing practices and updated the District’s procedures to better ensure that the use of our schools is appropriate. However, I do believe that in the interim, requests to conduct filming activities at our schools should continue to be reviewed and may be approved on a case-by-case basis.

“It is important that this District has the appropriate measures in place to protect not only its students, but its schools and property. It is also important that our actions do not significantly impact the greater Los Angeles area, including reducing job opportunities for residents, many of whom are part of the extended LAUSD family.”

Cortines’ initial canceling of entertainment productions came one day before Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti visited the set of “American Horror Story: Hotel” today to promote how the California Film and TV Tax Credit is helping bring film and TV productions back to the LA area, creating more local jobs from the entertainment industry.

The show had filmed for three seasons outside of the state before being lured to LA as one of the first 11 projects to receive allocations under the new credit program.

“We are fighting back against runaway production, and this tax credit is delivering results for the heart and soul of the film and television industry — the people who swing hammers, run cable and serve food on set so they can pay he bills and contribute to our economy,” Garcetti said in a statement. “Our film and television industry is the lifeblood of Los Angeles’ middle class, and now production is coming back to where it belongs.”

Garcetti’s promotional stop comes somewhat ironically for LA Unified, considering Superintendent Ramon Cortines‘ move to shut down all productions on district campuses in the wake of an NBC Los Angeles report that accused the district of lacking proper oversight. (LA School Report has its own opinion on this and questioned the accusations in the story. Click here to read our commentary.)

Entertainment productions on district campuses have reportedly brought around $10 million to the district over the last five years. According to Garcetti’s office, a total of 22 projects have received tax credits in the first two application periods, and based on data the projects will generate an estimated $1.07 billion in direct in-state spending, which includes $387 million in wages for below-the-line crew members.

National Kale Day at LAUSD

No one can accuse LA Unified of not going all in for National Kale Day, which was Oct. 7. The district ordered up more than five tons of the vegetable from a local farm in Ventura County and served an estimated 350,000 kale-and-cranberry salads, according to LAUSD Daily.

Kale is one of those “superfoods” your doctor has probably told you to eat more of, as it is high in vitamins and nutrients. The salads were a hit, LAUSD said.

“I love kale,” said Ozzie, an eighth-grade student. “They should serve this everyday.”

It seems the kale experiment worked, and it sounds as if there should be more kale to come.

“Right now, we’re trying it once a month. If we get a lot of positive feedback, we may serve it more frequently,” Laura Benavidez, interim co-director of the district’s Food Services Division, said in a statement. “Kale is one of the ways we are introducing new items, healthy items to our students.”

Friedrichs v. CTA Supreme Court Case heating up

The Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association case is set to go before the U.S. Supreme Court this fall and has gigantic implications for unions, as a victory by the plaintiffs would reverse a decades-old precedent, Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, that requires non-union members to pay dues under a “fair share” rationale that non-members derive the same benefits as a members.

The case involves a group of teachers, including some from LA Unified, suing the CTA over the dues. Several supporters of the teachers have recently filed amicus briefs with the court, including Gloria Romero, a former state senator who is active in various reform movements.

“The denial of these First Amendment rights for teachers simultaneously denies the civil rights of predominantly poor and minority children in America,” Romero said in a press release. “Virtually every reform we fight for are obstructed by the all-powerful CTA—even when rank and file teachers support our reforms.  By denying teachers their rights, our kids suffer the consequences by being denied a quality education.”

Click here to view Romero’s amicus brief.

LAUSD board President Steve Zimmer speaks at a public forum, joined by other district leaders (Credit: LAUSD)

Hundreds of LA Unified employees and parents filed into the Edward R. Roybal Learning Center‘s downtown auditorium yesterday for a “Back to School at LAUSD” forum, hosted by Superintendent Ramon Cortines and other key district leaders. The event wasn’t called to unveil a specific agenda, but more for an open panel discussion on issues facing the district, as well as for giving audience members an opportunity to ask questions.

Cortines was joined on stage by board President Steve Zimmer, Chief Deputy Superintendent Michelle King, Deputy Superintendent of Instruction Ruth Perez, Chief Financial Officer Megan Reilly and the event’s moderator, Chief of External Affairs Edgar Zazueta.

Zimmer’s answer to a question from Zazueta turned out to be one of the more compelling. Asked what drove him into education, Zimmer jumped back only a week and a half to the district’s Student Recovery Day, when district and city leaders make a coordinated effort to contact students who have dropped out and try and re-enroll them in school. The effort involved not just phone calls but visits to homes.

Zimmer painted a detailed picture with high drama straight out of a Hollywood movie as he described a home visit that he, King and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti paid to a family in an apartment where two boys who had dropped out live.

“The young men were really, deeply struggling and in deep pain and did not feel — not because they did not care about their education — but because the pain was so intense, because one of them has to work every night until 3 o’clock in the morning in Gardena just to help pay the rent in this one-room apartment — that’s why I do what I do everyday,” Zimmer said. “The idea that we cannot give up on the all-kids mission. That we cannot give up on a single child.”

Zimmer did not share the outcome of the visit, suggesting it was not successful, but he did say the event helped get 5,000 kids back in school. The story was one of the more sobering in what was mostly a light-hearted affair filled with a lot of jokes and laughter. Missing from the event, both in what was volunteered onstage and in the public questions, were some of the larger and more immediate problems facing the district.

There was no mention of LA Unified’s poor performance on the state’s Common Core-alligned Smarter Balanced tests, no mention of the recent report that the district’s use of its 230,000 computer tablets continues to lurch ahead somewhat rudderless, and no mention of the massive charter school expansion being planned by powerful foundations that would fundamentally remake the district in almost every way.

A topic that did come up frequently was Cortines himself, and the event proved to be another chapter in what is becoming an extended and laudatory victory lap for the superintendent, who returned to lead the district last October for the third time. Cortines announced a few months ago his intention to retire by December, and he has been widely praised by district leaders at public meetings for what is almost universally viewed as a successful and stabilizing effort.

Board member Monica Garcia, who did not take questions on stage with the others but spoke to open the event, said, “Mr. Cortines models everyday how to do your absolute best. How to be a learner. How to be compassionate and demanding and overall, how to live life well.”

Zimmer joined in the chorus of praise, calling Cortines’ work over the last 11 months “one of the great acts of public service that we will ever be a part of.”

The second half of the event was dedicated to audience questions, and Cortines fielded some of the more pointed ones, beating back any criticism of the district at every opportunity.

One audience member characterized the district as having increased graduation rates over the last few years — which it has — but not doing much else, producing students that are not “competing” in college and having to take remedial courses.

“I somewhat disagree,” Cortines said. “Last year, 17 students went from Garfield [High School] to UCLA, and there is school after school that that happens… I do not accept that this district and its schools and its teachers and its administrators and the support people are not doing everything possible to help the students.”

One parent asked about a lack of basic supplies like paper and pencils she said was common at many schools, and that many schools do not have the basic funds necessary. Again, Cortines disagreed.

“They do have the minimum funds. And there is money for paper and there is money for pencils. And you need to go to the principal and find out why they don’t have them,” Cortines said.

He also added, to applause, that if there wasn’t basic supplies at a school, “You need to call me, 213-241-7000.”

The announcement was made at a City Year opening day ceremony on Friday with Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and LA Unified board president Steve Zimmer.  City Year has 309 AmeriCorps members working in 26 district schools — one charter, 25 traditional — in Watts, south Los Angeles, Boyle Heights and Koreatown. They will be helping more than 10,000 at-risk students as part of a national effort to increase high school graduation rates.

Garcetti said the corps members “have a tremendous impact on the lives of students through their role in the classroom, and as mentors and role models. I commend them for their choice to serve and thank them for being a vital part of moving the needle on LA’s graduation rates.”

Andrew Glazier, City Year’s managing director for program and service, said corps members serve full-time in schools, providing students with tutoring, in-class support and extended day programs, as well as school-wide initiatives to increase academic achievement and student engagement. Founded nine years ago, the group has supported 100,000 students.

Eric Garcetti at City Year ceremony

“City Year is a vital, important organization that embodies our Foundation’s mission of making a positive difference, every day, to children in LA,” said Gillian Zucker, President of Business Operations of the L.A. Clippers Foundation. “The donation to City Year demonstrates that the LA Clippers — from Steve Ballmer to every member of the organization — is committed to investing in the education of children in Southern California.”

The $3 million gift to City Year marks the largest donation ever made by the LA Clippers Foundation.

“The Clippers Foundation gift is transformational for City Year Los Angeles, one that allows us to grow into the largest full-time AmeriCorps program in all of California and the largest City ear corps in the country,” said Andrew Hauptman, co-founder of City Year Los Angeles. “This means thousands of kids will get the support they need to succeed in school and beyond.”

Across the nation, 3,000 AmeriCorps members — the organization’s largest corps to date —  are kicking off their year of service in 27 cities.

A recent study by Policy Studies Associates found that schools that partner with City Year are two to three times more likely to improve on state student assessments in English and math compared with students at similar schools.

The list of schools that will be beneficiaries of the Clippers funding are: 93rd Street Elementary School, 109th Street Elementary, 122nd Street Elementary, Compton Avenue Elementary and Figueroa Street Elementary.

“Los Angeles is at the forefront of a new War on Poverty, and this is the sound of the cavalry coming,” Dixon Slingerland, executive Director of YPI, said in a statement. “Serving in the Promise Zone, the Promise Neighborhood, and throughout LA, these new AmeriCorps members are going to go right to work fulfilling the promise we have made to our young people to break down silos and change lives.”

The grants were awarded by the federal Corporation for National & Community Service, the organization that oversees AmeriCorps.

“This is a historic national service moment for Los Angeles,” Garcetti said in a statement. “Those who answer the call to serve will be doing transformative work from neighborhoods stretching from Watts to Pacoima. Their dedication will make a critical difference in the lives of students, families and whole communities.”

LA Unified schools already work closely with AmeriCorps through its affiliated City Year program. A recent report found that schools with City Year volunteers are more likely to see jumps in their students’ standardized math and English scores.

The money for the new AmeriCorps members came from three different grants, and each grant will be put to use in a different way.

One grant, the Promise Zones AmeriCorps grant, will have LA partnering with the city of Philadelphia, the first time a joint grant will be issued for two Promise Zones, which are low-income urban areas the federal government dedicates extra resources to. LA’s Promise Zones are located around the neighborhoods of East Hollywood, Koreatown, Westlake and Pacoima.

The $1.9 million, three-year grant creates 50 AmeriCorps positions, split evenly between the two cities, and creates a partnership to share best practices “in a program designed to help disadvantaged high school students graduate and begin college or careers,” according to a YPI press release.

Through the grant, AmeriCorps members will work as College & Career Ambassadors in struggling LA Unified schools within the Promise Zones.

Through LA Promise Corps grant, which totals $1.7 million, 54 members will work as full-time tutors in 19 elementary, middle, and high schools in Pacoima and Hollywood. And through the $710,811, three-year Operation AmeriCorps grant, 15 members will work at YouthSource and FamilySource centers.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti

A quarter of women living in Los Angeles do not hold a high school diploma, almost twice the number of women nationally, according to a new study focusing on issues affecting the women and girls of LA.

The report, called the Status of Women and Girls in Los Angeles, was produced by Mount Saint Mary’s University and commissioned by Mayor Eric Garcetti to “guide policymaking to address economic, social, and other inequalities facing women.”

The results, released yesterday, examined gender equity in the areas of demographics and leadership, with the general conclusion that women in LA are less educated than women nationally, and they are more likely to live in poverty than their male counterparts locally —  findings that reflect, in part, the experiences of female students in LA Unified.

“For too long, our women and girls have been left behind and counted out, and I want Los Angeles to lead in employing and empowering women,” Garcetti said in a statement.   “This first-of-its-kind report provides us with important information that will help us develop a plan of attack to address gender inequality and the issues affecting women in our city, which will improve our overall economy and quality of life.”

A few key findings include:

• Women of color comprise 72 percent of LA’s female population, with Latinas representing 48 percent of all women in the City.
• Twenty-five percent of all LA women, 25 years and older, do not have a high school degree, compared with 13 percent nationally.
• Sixty-three percent of LA women have not attained a post-secondary degree, compared with 62 percent nationally.
• Nearly 90 percent of K-12 age girls attend public schools, and girls graduate from high school at a higher rate than boys at the city, county and state levels.
• Thirty percent of all LA women under the age of 18 live in poverty.
• The LA poverty rate for single mothers raising children under the age of five is 49 percent – four times greater than the rate for married couples.
• LA women’s median earnings are $25,557 versus $30,399 for men, meaning women earn $0.84 for every $1.00 a man earns.

The initial findings are only the first two parts of a five-part report. Studies on Education and Workforce Development, Public Safety, and L.A.’s Veterans will be released in the coming weeks.

The measures would move the city and school board elections to November so that they would align with the more high-profile national and statewide elections, a move designed to increase voter turnout. LA City Council and LAUSD elections would be held on the same day as the presidential election beginning in 2020 and with mayoral, citywide and gubernatorial elections in 2022.

The flip side to the argument is that LAUSD and city candidates could receive less attention and would have to raise more money to get noticed amid the more high-profile elections.

So what does Angelenos’ leader think? He has no opinion.

As he told the Los Angeles Daily News, “I can see both sides of the issue. Sometimes it’s not cut clear. I take a position when it’s very clear to me … I think this is something that should be in the hands of the voters.”

Garcetti did add that because he could benefit from the change, as it would add 1.5 years to the mayor elected in 2017, he didn’t feel he should weigh in on it.

Premature cheers from AALA over testing 

 Magnolia Science Academy before county board

The LA Unified school board denied the five-year renewal application of Magnolia Science Academy in Bell in November, basing their ruling on a report by the district’s inspector general that found the charter management group is “fiscally insolvent.”

However, Magnolia has a second chance at life through the LA County Board of Education, and its application for renewal was scheduled to be heard at the board’s meeting on Tuesday.

The school was facing an uphill battle, as the County Superintendent of Schools Arturo Delgado had recommended denying the application. The board did vote, but it was to simply grant a 30-day extension as it asked for more information from Magnolia.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti

Mayor Eric Garcetti, who rarely insinuates himself into Los Angeles public school politics, is endorsing Tamar Galatzan for a third term representing LA Unified’s District 3 board seat.

“Tamar is an innovative problem-solver and a strong and thoughtful advocate for Valley schools and kids,” Garcetti said in a news release from the Galatzan campaign. “She has shown strong leadership on critical issues concerning our students. And she isn’t afraid to make the tough choices about spending taxpayer dollars and fighting for the resources for her schools.”

Garcetti’s endorsement is repayment, of sorts. Galatzan endorsed him for mayor in 2013 when he was running in a close campaign against Wendy Greuel. Greuel, the former city controller, has also endorsed Galatzan, the campaign said.

Of the four board incumbents facing reelection on March 3, Galatzan has drawn the largest number of challengers — five. George McKenna (District 1) is running unopposed. Bennett Kayser (5) and President Richard Vladovic (7) are each facing two challengers.

In any race without a majority winner, the top two candidates will compete in a runoff on May 19.

Galatzan was first elected in 2007,prompted by her concern over the district’s truancy and drop-out problems rates. Re-elected in 2011, she became a strong ally of former superintendent John Deasy, whose management style and battles with other board members led to his resignation in October.

Galatzan, who also serves as a city prosecutor and is the only board member with children in LA Unified schools, often supported Deasy on issues opposed by the district’s teachers union, UTLA.

“The mayor and I each have school-age children, so we both understand what it will take to prepare our kids for college and the workforce,” Galatzan said. “I am honored to have his endorsement, and I pledge to continue the hard work to help our district and our students succeed.”

Garcetti’s endorsement represents his first foray into board politics. A message to his office seeking to learn if he intends to endorse other candidates did not draw an immediate response.

LA Mayor Eric Garcetti today at an event for Promesa Boyle Hieghts (Credit: Eric Garcetti Facebook page)

Mayor Eric Garcetti today helped kick off a fund raising campaign for Proyecto Pastoral and Promesa Boyle Heights which will focus efforts on expanding opportunity for youth in our communities.

Both groups are non-profits that work to transform the East LA neighborhood by improving targeted schools and expanding social services in the community around them.

The groups plans to raise $2 million to offer leadership training to more than 1,000 youth and adults over the next three years. It’s part of their mission to create a “cradle to career” path for local students.

“I am a direct product of Boyle Heights. All four of my grandparents settled in this neighborhood–two from Mexico and two Russian Jews escaping persecution,” Garcetti said on his Facebook page. “They came to a land they didn’t know, with a language they didn’t speak, with nothing but their determination to succeed.”

Promesa launched in 2010 with a federal Promise Neighborhood planning grant and zeroed in on students at Hollenbeck Middle School and Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez High School.

So far, the group has helped implement a community-school model at Mendez and managed to hire an Achievement Counselor to coordinate college-readiness supports. In 2013, Mendez became the most improved high school in California with a 76-point API gain, and more students were accepted to college since the school’s opening.

Next, Promesa plans to build a Wellness Center at Mendez to provide students with physical & mental health services, connect them to resources, and also serves as a hub for community action.

UTLA did not respond when asked what topics might be on the table today, but the previous session saw UTLA adding to its demands to include supports for displaced educators, improved UTLA representation for substitute educators facing termination, clean and safe schools, improved grievance procedures to deal with unfair treatment by principals and increased school-based decision-making regarding Breakfast in the Classroom.

On the hot-button issue of salary, the district is reportedly still sticking to its offer of 2 percent, while the the union wants 10 percent.

Facebook faceoff for UTLA

Quite a few UTLA members were not pleased with the union’s leadership after it issued a press release regarding a Ferguson, Missouri grand jury’s decision not to indict a police officer for a fatal shooting with racial overtones that has sparked protests nationwide. The statement was a simple, short one, calling on “law enforcement agencies in Los Angeles and other cities to reexamine how their departments interact with people of color.”

In response to the union’s Faceook post about the statement, many UTLA members sounded off and voiced displeasure that leaders were weighing in on a national issue. One post read, “UTLA…Please take care of UTLA business and work on contract negotiations. You represent the teachers of LAUSD in SCHOOL matters….don’t make statements about other areas as our representatives.”

The number of angry posts was enough to prompt a response from UTLA leaders that said the officers “want to assure you that they are focusing on your top priorities in bargaining with the District.”

The post also included a statement from UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl, who wrote, “Regarding our statement on the Ferguson grand jury decision, UTLA has a long-standing policy against police brutality, and many unions within the labor movement nation-wide have expressed concern about the events in Ferguson.”

Middle school uses crowdfunding for new computers

Friends of Palms, a nonprofit organization that includes parents, friends, and families of children who attend Palms Middle School, have started an indiegogo campaign with the hope of purchasing 13 Apple iMac computers for use in the school’s outdated computer lab. They need $20,437 and as of this morning have raised $4,125.

“By helping us provide new computers to our library, you will greatly inspire and help our students to work more efficiently,” said Keith McKnight, a member of Friends of Palms, according to Digital Journal. “It will enhance their learning experience and enable them to complete their assignments on time.”

New $19.8 million charter school campus

ICEF Public Schools (ICEF), a network of 12 charter schools in South Los Angeles and Inglewood, announced this week that its flagship View Park Preparatory Elementary and middle schools will move to a new 54,000 square-foot campus currently being constructed with the use of $19.8 million bond issue from the California School Finance Authority (CSFA).

“ICEF not only stands for education, but it also represents an organization that has spent the last 15 years investing in the youth of south Los Angeles and Inglewood,” said former LA Mayor Richard Riordan, chairman of ICEF’s board of directors, in a press release. “The new View Park K-8 facility represents ICEF’s financial investment and commitment to its students and the community for the next 15 years and beyond.”

Guess who’s meeting the mayor of ‘Whoville’

About 200 LA Unified students are meeting Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti today, as well as “Whoville” Mayor Augustus Maywho, who will be helping a host of Whos light the Whoville tree at Universal Studios as part of its annual “Grinchmas” holiday attraction, according to City News Service. The attraction will be open at various times through Jan. 3.

Band and Drill Team Championships

More than 2,500 high school students from 32 LA Unified high schools are gearing up for the 40th Annual Band and Drill Team Championships taking place at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday at East Los Angeles College.

Thelma Melendez

The LA Unified Board meets this morning, with much of their business scheduled for a closed door session.

In private, the six members will discuss various legal cases involving the district as well as updates on labor contracts and student discipline matters.

At some point, in open session, they will consider an interim financial report headed to the Los Angeles County Office of Education, with the usual notation that based on current projections that the District may not be able to meet its financial obligations for the current fiscal year and the two years to follow.

Also expected: An announcement that Thelma Melendez, until last week Mayor Eric Garcetti‘s liaison to the district, will join the district as second-in-command overseeing Beyond the Bell, LA Unified’s after-school program.

Previous posts: At School, Melendez Talks Computers, Garcetti Jobs Agenda; Thelma Melendez, Mayor Garcetti’s education deputy, remains out of view. 

Thelma Melendez today at the UCLA Community School

Since becoming Mayor Eric Garcetti’s top education advisor four months ago, Thelma Melendez de Santa Ana has made few public appearances but, today, for the first time, the 30-year educator took center stage alongside LA Unified officials.

She was one of several speakers at the UCLA Community School in the Robert F. Kennedy Complex, kicking-off “An Hour of Code,” a national event designed to encourage students from kindergarten through grade 12 to learn more about computer programming.

“The work that’s being done here is completely in line with the Mayor’s vision,” Melendez told LA School Report.

Melendez says her top priority as the Director of Education and Workforce Development is to carry out Garcetti’s plan of creating 10,000 jobs for the city’s youth.

“We find that many of our students don’t have the opportunity to have that first job, and that’s a shame because sometimes those opportunities lead to careers.”

No other mayor has taken on such an ambitious project “so he’s really upping the ante,” she said. “It’s all part of our ‘From Cradle to Gainful Employment Plan.’ ”

The city is still working on finding new partners to create those jobs and internships. “We have to be really creative,” she said of an effort made more challenging by recent severe budget cuts to the school district and city services.

“The new normal has become less resources,” she said. “So the question is, how do we pull them together to leverage the programs that we have now so that it’s much more streamlined for our community?”

Prior to joining Garcetti’s team, Melendez was Superintendent of Santa Ana Unified. Earlier, she worked in Washington D.C. as an assistant secretary for elementary and secondary schooling, under U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan.

Those jobs took her far from her husband and parents.

“Before coming to work for the city, I was living in guest house [in Santa Ana],” she said. “I only saw my husband on the weekends and I just decided I had spent 30 years focusing on my career and now it was time to focus on my family.”

Melendez said now that she’s under the same roof as her family, “I finally have a life again.”

Previous Posts: Thelma Melendez, Mayor Garcetti’s education deputy, remains out of view as Garcetti’s Ed Deputy; School Board Expected to Approve Marquez on Bond Panel.

Thelma Melendez, Mayor Garcetti’s education deputy

Eight weeks ago Mayor Eric Garcetti named his new education deputy, Thelma Melendez de Santa Ana. In that time, only a few people have any idea who she is what she does or how she’s going to do it.

She has met with various board members and some community groups in her official capacity as director of education and workforce, but all efforts to interview Melendez have been ignored or denied.

Marie Lloyd, a press assistant in Garcetti’s office, told LA School Report Melendez isn’t doing interviews.

Melendez has yet to make any public statements outlining goals for herself or staffer Abigail Marquez so it’s difficult to know with any certainty what her priorities are and how she will measure her own success.

Some things are known about her: she resigned from her previous post as Superintendent of Santa Ana Unified School District in Orange County rather abruptly and amid scandal. Before that, she served as an Assistant Secretary of Education under Arne Duncan, and she headed Pomona Unified for about three years.

Her ties to LA Unified Superintendent John Deasy go back to 2006 when both attended the Broad Superintendents Academy. Former superintendent Ray Cortines tried to lure her to LA Unified several years ago.

Through interviews with a few LA Unified school board members, it’s possible to sketch out only a rough picture of what she’s been up to.

It seems her resume has appeal across the ideological spectrum. School board members pushing for Deasy-style reforms, like Monica Garcia, and those against them, like Bennett Kayser, are excited to work with Melendez.

Garcia, who has known Melendez professionally for years, said she is thrilled with the idea of working alongside her even if Melendez’s role remains amorphous.

The two had one private meeting during which Garcia says Melendez outlined the need to raise graduation rates for Hispanic and English Language Learner students throughout the district.

According to Garcia, Melendez gave no indication she plans to meet with the school board as a whole or with any regularity.

“I think there’s a lot she’s trying to learn and catch up on, but I see her as a strong ally for the children of Los Angeles,” Garcia told LA School Report.

Similarly, Sarah Bradshaw, Kayser’s chief of staff, agrees Melendez is “taking this time to ask all the right questions.”

Bradshaw attended a brief meeting between Kayser and Melendez last week. Much of their time together was spent talking about improving “cradle to gainful employment” strategies, a reflect of Garcetti’s interest in job creation and economic development.

“The impression she gave us is that her focus is going to be on linking adult education, community colleges, and workforce programs to the district,” Bradshaw said. “I don’t think she’s going to be hands-on when it comes teaching strategies in the classroom or changing education policies.”

Kayser, who recently took part in an education funding conference in Oakland and San Francisco, is hoping Melendez will look at cross-services programs implemented in the Bay Area as a model for Los Angeles and LA Unified, Bradshaw said. For instance, the city of San Francisco pays for school police, not the local school district as is the case here. Students qualify for free transit and they have free access to the city’s museums in San Francisco.

“We want to work with her to get some of those types of services for our kids here,” Bradshaw said.

It’s unclear to what extent Melendez or Garcetti will be involved in the Partnership of Los Angeles Schools, which manages 22 schools within LA Unified and was founded by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in 2007.

“Every mayor will make the position their own,” said Joan Sullivan, CEO of Partnership of Los Angeles Schools, who served as education deputy under Mayor Villaraigosa.

Garcetti’s decision? Maybe some day Melendez will explain it.

Previous Posts: Melendez to Be Hired Under Unusual Salary Arrangement; The Buzz: Thelma Melendez Likely to Run Garcetti’s Education Team.

Abigail Marquez

When the LA Unified board meets in open session today, only one agenda item is listed for discussion: Abigail Marquez as Mayor Eric Garcetti’s nominee to the 15-member district Bond Oversight Committee.

If approved, which is expected, she would replace former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s representative on the board, Joan Sullivan, who also served as deputy mayor of education.

Marquez’s full time position with the city is as a member of Garcetti’s Education and Workforce team, working with his chief education appointment, Thelma Melendez.

The function of the committee, an all-volunteer group, is to advise the school board on how to spend voter-approved construction bonds. Usually that’s been limited to building projects, repairs, and modernization, but the committee recently approved $30 million for 47 schools in Phase 1 of the district’s iPad program.

A committee consultant, Tom Rubin, said Marquez’s appointment should go through without a hitch; candidates are thoroughly vetted by the district’s ethics committee before they come before the school board for approval.

Once Marquez is approved, Rubin said, he’ll get her up to speed on the issues before the bond committee, including the budget proposal for Phase 2 of the iPad program. The bond committee meets next on Oct. 30, when it will consider spending about $250 million in Phase 2, which would distribute iPads to another 300 LA Unified schools.

“She will definitely have the opportunity to weigh in on the final decision, if she so choses,” Rubin told LA School Report. “We have a lot of key questions, primarily about finance, that we have asked of the district that we are expecting to get answers next week.”

Previous Posts: The Buzz: Thelma Melendez Likely to Run Garcetti’s Education Team; Garcetti Makes First Education Appointment (updated)

Mayor Eric Garcetti

More appointments from Mayor Eric Garcetti.

Today he announced his choices for the Board of Public Library Commissioners. The five members serve five-year staggered terms and are confirmed by the City Council.

Gregory Bettinelli — a venture partner for Upfront Ventures, an Affiliated Executive for Freeman Spogli & Co., Co-Founder of MucklerLab, and venture advisor for Mucker Capital.

Bich Ngoc Cao — an online marketing and social media strategist who helps brands, artists and campaigns build communities through social media.

Mai Lassiter – an activist who has supported charitable organizations as a board member, volunteer, and fundraiser.

Josefa Salinas – a radio personality on 92.3 FM.

Rita Walters – a member of the Los Angeles City Council from 1991-2001, representing the 9th Council District.

Previous Posts: Rick Jacobs Joins Garcetti’s Team; Who’s Who: Mayor Garcetti’s Dream Team; Melendez to Be Hired Under Unusual Salary Arrangement; Garcetti Makes First Education Appointment (updated)