KABC features a student culinary education program called “Cooking Up Change” featuring students at West Adams High – part of a program at LAUSD to promote healthy eating.

The new report, which looked at middle and high schools across the country, finds significant discipline gaps between white, black, and Hispanic students. In Los Angeles, suspension rates vary school-to-school: The study found 54 high schools with large suspension numbers, but the district also had 81 high schools with low suspension rates.

The discipline gap is nationwide: “The report found that one in three black middle school males were suspended once or more during the school year,” the Huffington Post reported. “The numbers were worse for racial minorities with disabilities: 36 percent of black students with disabilities in secondary school were suspended at least once.”

According to KPCC’s coverage of the suspension report, “Researchers found that while suspension rates for Asian and white students remained largely unchanged between 1973 and 2010, suspension rates for African-American and Latino students doubled.”

According an Education Week interview with one of the researchers involved in the report, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Chicago are districts that have many schools with high suspension rates.

LA School Report has already noted that a 2012 study from the California Endowment that examined LAUSD and two other California districts found that high suspension rates are correlated with low academic achievement, higher crime rates, higher school dropout rates, and ultimately higher health risks.

California’s Largest Teachers Union Now Backs Bill to Ease Firing
Districts have long complained that the process is cumbersome and expensive, but unions have stridently fought attempts to change it.  Union leaders say the new proposal would shorten the dismissal process in a way that still allows charges against teachers to be handled fairly. San Jose Mercury News

Want to Teach Better? New Study Says Use Your Hands
One key to more effective teaching could be as simple as talking with your hands, according to a new study from the University of Iowa and Michigan State University. KPCC

Final Count in L.A. Election Due Tuesday After Three-Week Delay
Three weeks after the Los Angeles primary election, the city will announce the final vote count Tuesday in races for mayor, City Council and other local offices. LA Times

State Still Has a Role in Supporting and Holding Districts Accountable
With the passage of Proposition 30 and almost nine out of 10 local ballot measures last November, the voters of California gave our schools an almost unprecedented chance to begin rebuilding after years of budget cuts. EdSource Commentary

Students Would Do Well to Learn Cursive, Advocate Says
For many, cursive handwriting is a thing of the past, an archaic method taught in the days before keyboards and touch screens. But some argue that writing longhand could help in placement exams. LA Times

Three Former Wilmington Elementary School Students File Suit Alleging Abuse
A lawsuit filed Friday on behalf of three former students at Wilmington’s George De La Torre Jr. Elementary School alleges they were sexually abused by their fourth-grade teacher and that school district officials engaged in a cover-up. Daily Breeze

On the School of Second Chances: a Q&A With Mike Rose
Each spring across America, thousands of students who once lagged behind their peers get accepted to top-notch universities, thanks to what author Mike Rose calls “second chance” learning. LA Times

LiveSchool Behavior Tracking App Helps KIPP LA Shift School Culture
KIPP LA middle schools have a powerful tool in a behavior-tracking app that helps reward students for good choices and build a school culture that supports learning. PR Newswire

With GOP Advocate, Ed. Issues Could Gain Steam in Congress
Education issues—which haven’t gotten a lot of attention from Congress over the past four years—may have picked up an unlikely but powerful advocate: U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor. EdWeek

Schools Struggle to Provide Dental Health Safety Net
Hundreds of thousands of low-income children suffering from dental disease, some with teeth rotted to the gum line, are presenting California school districts with a widespread public health problem. EdSource

O.C. Olympians Raise the Bar for L.A. Kids
Peter Vidmar, 51, is among dozens of Olympians who regularly visit Los Angeles schools to inspire kids, and maybe cajole them, to perform well on the California Physical Fitness test. O.C. Register

Michelle Rhee Hires Former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez
As Michelle Rhee pushes her controversial brand of education reform in California’s capital, she has tapped one of the town’s most influential power brokers, Fabian Nunez, to guide her strategy. LA Times

A New Play About…LAUSD School Lunch?
The play’s high school may be fictional, but the story stuff that comprises it is anything but. Howard spent the better part of a year traveling to various high schools throughout the LAUSD, speaking to both students as well as food service professionals. LA Weekly

California’s New Taxes Are Paying for Pensions
Last November, California politicians persuaded voters to support a proposed seven-year, $50 billion tax increase, largely on the vow that the money would go to public education. Now, the state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office has announced that the California State Teachers’ Retirement System requires an extra $4.5 billion a year for 30 years — $135 billion — and that the money will have to come from some combination of school districts and the state. Bloomberg Opinion

Boys’ Volleyball: A Proud Coach at Van Nuys High
The Van Nuys High boys’ volleyball team just returned from a trip to Hawaii to play in the prestigious Iolani tournament that included nationally ranked Punohou. LA Times

Calif., Texas, and N.C. Districts Tapped As Broad Prize Finalists
The four finalists for the 2013 Broad Prize in Urban Education are the Corona-Norco and San Diego school districts in California, the Houston Independent School District, and the school system in Cumberland County, N.C. EdWeek

Schools Need Local Funding Control
Gov. Jerry Brown is providing a historic opportunity to realize the equity, transparency and local control that our public schools need. LA Daily News Opinion

Bringing Babies to the Classroom to Teach Empathy, Prevent Bullying
Roots of Empathy, first started in 1996 in Toronto and introduced into U.S. schools in 2007, aims to build more peaceful and caring societies by increasing the level of empathy in children. In the last six years, the program has spread to California, New York and other parts of Washington. PBS NewsHour

Hold Districts Accountable for Restoring Funding for the Arts
A well-rounded education that includes the arts is essential to prepare California students for college and careers. Further, the skills students gain in the arts – imagination, creativity and innovation – are essential for success in the California economy, no matter the industry or sector. EdSource Commentary

Family Members of Accident Victims Sue LAUSD
The Los Angeles Unified School District is being sued by family members of a man who was killed and a young girl who was injured when they were struck by a hit-and-run driver outside a Watts school last year. City News Service

LAUSD Can Balance Budget This Year, but Potential Losses Loom
Los Angeles Unified can balance its budget this year thanks to a windfall from voter-approved Proposition 30, but needs lawmakers to pass Gov. Jerry Brown’s new student funding formula to keep its coffers filled next year, district officials said Tuesday. LA Daily News

New School to Teach Entrepreneurship Is Approved, Location Isn’t
A new school to teach middle school students about entrepreneurship was approved Tuesday by the Los Angeles Board of Education. But the board stepped back from original plans to place it at Venice High after several parents and students complained that it would siphon off needed space and resources. LA Times

LAUSD Considers Allowing Students to Enter Magnets All Year Long
Officials are working to set up a system that would allow students to enter popular magnet programs all year long in the Los Angeles Unified School District. The revamped admission process would address a long-standing problem: Programs are oversubscribed during the once-a-year admissions process, but underenrolled during the subsequent academic year. LA Times

Alternative Bill to Speed up Teacher Dismissals Introduced
A year ago, Assemblymember Joan Buchanan cast a deciding vote killing a bill that would have pared back the process for firing teachers and administrators alleged to have done egregious acts against children. EdSource
See also: San Jose Mercury News

Arne Duncan Spars With State K-12 Chiefs Over District Waivers
While most of Duncan’s discussion with the Council of Chief State School Officers was congenial, one point of contention was over district-level No Child Left Behind Act waivers. EdWeek

Assembly Committee Rejects Moving Adult Ed to Community Colleges
In a clear message to Gov. Jerry Brown, an Assembly subcommittee voted unanimously Tuesday to reject his proposal to shift responsibility for adult education programs from K-12 districts to community colleges. EdSource

LAUSD Mom’s Popular Fitness Program Attracts First Lady’s Attention
Before cracking a book or lifting a pencil, students at Overland Elementary School are lifting their arms and legs for 15 minutes. NBC LA

Parental Involvement Seen as Key to ELL Achievement
The number of ELL students has more than doubled since 1989, with Hispanics as the fastest-growing segment of this population. This problem is often mischaracterized as an immigration one, but ELL student demographics suggest otherwise: Only 24 percent of ELL elementary students are foreign-born. EdWeek

LAPD to Beef up Security at K-8 Schools
LAPD Chief Charlie Beck announces a plan to have officers patrol kindergarten through 8th grade schools in LA. NBC LA
See also: LA Times, KCET

Your Vote, L.A.’s Future
The city is about to undergo a sweeping turnover in municipal government, electing a new mayor, deciding whether to keep or replace the current city attorney, choosing a new controller and electing more than half — the controlling majority — of the City Council and LAUSD Board. LA Times Editorial

LAUSD Board Seeks Control Over Grant Applications
In a move that could stem the flow of tens of millions of dollars to cash-strapped Los Angeles Unified, the school board has empowered itself to endorse — or veto — applications for grants topping $1 million. LA Daily News

Expanding Young Students’ Role in Nutrition
L.A. Unified seeks to add nutrition education to the curriculum, give students more of a voice in what’s served and more time to eat. LA Times

$252,000 Goes to LAUSD to Promote Good Eating, Exercise
The Los Angeles Unified School District was awarded $252,000 today for promoting nutrition and physical activity. LA Daily News

Our View: Getting Abusers out of the Classroom
A key reform for the new Legislature is protecting school children from predatory teachers. In the past year, several scandals brought forth the need for reform. Appeal-Democrat Editorial

At Aldama Elementary School, Parents Struggle to Break the News
For local parents, news of the Connecticut school shootings Friday was difficult to hear. And even harder to explain to their kids. KPCC

California School Districts Face Huge Debt on Risky Bonds
Two hundred school districts across California have borrowed billions of dollars using a costly and risky form of financing that has saddled them with staggering debt, according to a Times analysis. LA Times

Uptick in Charter Renewal Denials as National Group Calls for More
The number of charter schools denied renewal nationwide more than doubled in 2011 to 12 – a jump attributed to closer scrutiny of academic standards. SI&A Cabinet Report

One in Five Charter Schools Is Bad Enough to Close Down
The Chicago-based group’s members — such as the Los Angeles Unified School District and the State University of New York — oversee more than half of the nation’s 5,600 charter schools. SF Chronicle

The “Wimpy” Underside of State Education Funding
Once considered to be one of the nation’s best public school systems, by some accounts, today California ranks 48th in the country—with about $2,500 less per student than the national average. Los Feliz Ledger

Test Results Show Majority of California Students Lack Fitness
Only about one-third of California students are considered physically fit, according to annual test results released by the department of education earlier this month. SI&A Cabinet Report

California Finds Economic Gloom Starting to Lift
After nearly five years of brutal economic decline, government retrenchment and a widespread loss of confidence in its future, California is showing the first signs of a rebound. NYT

LAUSD putting on talent show to showcase employee-entertainers, raise money for after-school programs
Sure, America and even Britain have talent. Turns out, Los Angeles Unified does, too. LA Daily News

A California Endowment ad calling for changes in school discipline policies

The largest health foundation in the state, the California Endowment, is putting big money behind an issue not usually associated with health: student suspension and expulsion policies.

Earlier this week, the Endowment ran a full-page advertisement in four major California newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times, praising legislators for recently passing six statewide laws to reform strict “zero tolerance” discipline policies.

Suspensions at Garfield High School in East LA went down from 510 to just one, according to the Endowment’s ad (pictured).

The link between health and student suspension rates may not be obvious at first, but a May 2012 study funded by the Endowment found that high suspension rates are correlated with low academic achievement, higher crime rates, higher school dropout rates, and ultimately higher health risks. The study focused on three school districts in California, including LAUSD.

Although there is more work to be done, LAUSD is on its way to reforming its suspension and expulsion policies. According to the study, when the district changed its discipline policies in 2007, suspension rates dramatically improved, with suspensions dropping by 43 percent since 2004.

Data from the 2009 – 2010 school year revealed African-Americans students in Los Angeles are singled out for suspension far more often than their white, Asian, and Latino peers. Although African-American students make up less than 10 percent of school enrollment, they accounted for 26 percent of suspensions in the district. Under Supt. John Deasy, LAUSD now monitors school suspensions by race and economic status, which Deasy says has lowered suspension rates.