Los Angeles Unified School District

Mar 20 2009

Brewer announces Shambra to head division

Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Superintendent David L. Brewer III announced the appointment of Mary H. Shambra as the District’s new charter schools division director. Shambra most recently served as the LAUSD charter schools division coordinator.

As director, Shambra will be responsible for managing key functions of the charter schools division and will play a critical role in implementing the District plans toward increased effectiveness as authorizer of charter schools.

Cynthia E. Griffin-  |   OW Managing Editor
Mar 20 2009

Accusations of sexual misconduct leave LAUSD under fire

Did they or did they not drop the ball? That is the question paramount in many people’s minds, as the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) grapples with the prospect that an assistant principal at Markham Middle School--who pleaded innocent during his arraignment in court yesterday to charges that he conducted lewd acts on a child–was shifted from one inner city school to another.

Cynthia E. Griffin-  |   OW Managing Editor
Mar 13 2009

New web site gives parents data to evaluate local high schools

Only one of the 14 high schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District which have high concentrations of African American students has as many or more fully credentialed teachers than the state average.

About 97 percent of the teachers at Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies are fully credentialed compared to 91 percent of teachers in high schools statewide.

Cynthia E. Griffin-  |   OW Managing Editor
Feb 28 2009

Mayor appoints San Diego veteran to head education partnership

A 29-year veteran of urban education has been appointed superintendent of instruction for the Partnership for L.A. Schools, and will officially bring her team to take over six Los Angeles Unified School District campuses including Gompers and Markham middle schools beginning July 1.

Jan 31 2009

Teachers and parents vote on innovation division

This past week the teachers and parents of Crenshaw High voted in favor of the school entering the Innovation Division of Los Angeles Unified School District - LAUSD’s effort to place select schools on a pathway toward localized governance and control.

The chorus for change was overwhelming: More than 80 percent of all the teachers and faculty at Crenshaw High voted for change, and more than 94 percent of the voting parents did so as well.

Across Black America

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

California
San Diego college students and volunteers will carry out their sixth home restoration project on Wednesday, July 10 through Sunday, July 14. as part of the “Healing our Heroes’ Homes” (H3) program created by the nonprofit Embrace. The five-day effort will take place at the home of medically retired Marine Corps Capt. Sarah Bettencourt. Bettencourt served with many different units across the country during the Global War on Terrorism and developed a rare neurological disorder in 2008. With a focus to restore the homes of disabled veteran homeowners, H3 falls in line with Embrace’s mission to mobilize college-student volunteers and community members to serve less fortunate members of civilian and veteran communities. The project for the Bettencourts’ home includes kitchen and bathroom remodeling, building ADA-compliant disability ramps, widening their driveway to ADA standards, widening doorways and landscaping.
 
District of Columbia
The 2013 Smithsonian Folklife Festival will showcase its five-year community research project on African American identity with the program “The Will to Adorn: African American Diversity, Style, and Identity.” This multicity collaboration examines the history and culture of the aesthetics of African Americans. The festival will be held June 26-30 and July 3-7, outdoors on the National Mall between Seventh and 14th streets. “Whether we realize it or not, we are all dress artists. The way we compose our look is a creative expression of our ideas about who we are and who we aspire to be,” said Diana N’Diaye, program curator. “This program explores the diversity of African American traditions of style, but also teaches young people the importance of documenting their own culture and saving that information for themselves and future generations.”