Results tagged “students”

Students seeking admission to any of the California State University's 23 campuses may find they'll have to make other plans in the coming academic years, since the system intends to go ahead with their plan to reduce enrollment "by 40,000 students over the next two years to contend with a $564-million budget cut for the 2009-10 fiscal year," reports the LA Times.

Legendary Bay Area restaurateur, chef, cookbook author, and educational garden advocate Alice Waters is in town today to take part in the launch of the first Los Angeles branch of her Chez Panisse Foundation's Edible Schoolyard.

Two of the three UCLA students arrested after an off-campus fraternity party that ended with a fight and multiple injuries were released from jail yesterday. Although police are continuing to investigate them, LA County County District Attorneys decided not to file charges against Justin Kim, 19, of La Crescenta, and Chris Yi, 19, of Huntington Beach. The other arrested student, Isaiah Hee Cho, 19, of Westminster, will remain behind bars, charged with with being an accessory to aggravated mayhem and added a gang enhancement.

Looking ahead already to the 2010-11, the University of California Board of Regents are preparing to face another fiscal year of budget shortfalls, according to a UC Newsroom release. The current budget gap of $535 million for the 2009-10 year "could grow to more than $600 million in the next fiscal year," and that has the UC looking for any and all ways to curb the shortfall.

The state budget has finally been passed, and as a result billions of dollars have been cut from the coffers that help support education at all levels. Included are cuts to the large University of California and California State University systems, necessitating the respective campus network leaders to push through their own budgets cuts that include layoffs, furloughs, pay cuts, fee hikes, enrollment caps, and decreased resources. Despite student and faculty protests, the UC and CSU passed the proposals on the table that aim to stave off the shortfall.

Students at Liechty Middle School engaged in a silent protest during their graduation ceremony last week and it wound up costing them their diplomas. "The students turned their backs on graduation speaker Monica Garcia, LAUSD Board President, to express their displeasure to teacher layoffs and cutbacks," press materials explain.

Cuts to education are affecting, and will continue to affect, students at all levels here in California. From increased class sizes, teacher layoffs, program cuts, eliminating most summer school offerings at public K-12 schools, and enrollment caps or freezes, program cuts, and fewer courses offered at colleges and universities, the problems begin in Kindergartens and carry through each and every public school, college, and university classroom, and last beyond graduation, as students lucky enough to get in and get out face enormous debt.

Following yesterday's walkouts at Santee High School, where hundreds of students marched from their campus to the Downtown headquarters of the Los Angeles Unified District, Board President Monica Garcia has issued a statement. Her emphasis, however, is focused neither on the Board changing their minds about layoffs and budgetary decisions, nor on punishing the students, but rather on using their education as their best mode of protest. Says Garcia:

“I encourage our students to continue informing themselves and speaking out on cuts in California that affect their futures more than anyone else’s.

Continue reading "LAUSD Board President Garcia Responds to Student Walkouts"

       

Plans for a one-day teacher walk out and protest planned for Friday had the kibosh put on them today by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge. Unionized teachers wanted to protest anticipated layoffs and large class sizes and LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines doesn't want to disrupt school environs, especially in light of state and advance placement testing.

The folks at Cuts Hurt Kids have set up this interactive map to show where parents, teachers, students, and community members are working in protest of Los Angeles Unified School District budget cuts, including teacher layoffs. The map plots points of action, locations, as well as links to stories, images, and videos related to LAUSD's budgetary woes and how the cuts will affect the community at large. Have something to add to the map? Let Cuts Hurt Kids know.

Under pressure from United Teachers Los Angeles, the union representing educators working in the LAUSD, the Board of Education agreed on Tuesday during their regular meeting to postpone voting on proposed layoffs. The Board, in a gesture meant to show alignment with Superintendent Ramon Cortines, decided to pursue meetings and discussions of alternatives with bargaining units, and will bring the motion to the table once more on April 14th.

Members of the United Teachers Los Angeles are gathered right now outside the LAUSD's Local District 5's offices to protest the board's plan to terminate thousands of teachers, many of them the district's youngest and most energetic. The crowd, dressed in either their UTLA red shirts or pink (symbolic of the pink slips) prompted District 5 Superintendent Carmen Schroeder to come down to address the crowd. Using a microphone, several of the area's...

The Los Angeles Unified School District reached a tentative agreement yesterday with the union representing its teachers which gives them a new contract that will last until 2011, according to abc7.com.

Students in LAUSD schools in Highland Park are already under a lot of pressure to do well, from test scores to less-than-ideal classroom environments. But the neighborhood is experiencing an increase in gang-related violence, mostly via gunfire, and that is making getting an education even harder, explains the LA Times' Steve Lopez.

Oh, to be young and inclined to run around a campus at night in your underwear... The longing was put into action on the UC Irvine campus last week, as about 150 co-eds stripped down and sprinted out under the relative cover of night. "It's not illegal to run around in your underwear, as long as all the appropriate parts are covered," remarks the OC Register in their story on the run. They also note that the event is pretty huge here in Los Angeles, something UCLA students know very, very, very, very well. The UCI campus police hung back and watched, and made sure the students didn't run into the nearby shopping center--in case they ran into Irvine cops. Sure, it was cold, and sure, strangers were watching, but the bottom line was pretty straightforward, according to one student: "It felt really good to be free from all that stress, from finals and some issues at the dorm."

As Silver Lake residents work out communication problems with their local LAPD division, in Sherman Oaks, Senior Lead Officers (SLO) from Van Nuys Division touch base with the community at least three times a month at various monthly meetings and occasional e-mail blasts. Yesterday afternoon, North Sherman Oaks SLO Justin Bergmann warned residents about a new rash of street robberies:

Los Angeles-based college gossip website JuicyCampus.com has announced they will shut down. Founder and CEO Matt Ivester "announced his intention Wednesday in a message posted on the website. The message cited the national economic meltdown and falling ad revenue," reports USA Today.

The perilous state of the California budget has had a rippling effect on institutions and employees for months now. The California State University has been no exception, and now its officials have announced that things are about to get even chillier on their 23 campuses with the arrival of a salary and hiring freeze aimed at controlling costs.

The Los Angeles Unified School District has initiated a spending freeze, thanks in part to the possibility of having to cut $400 million in spending mid-year, after already being crippled by $400 million in budget cuts this year. Their first major move has been to put one of their biggest arts programs in a holding pattern. The LA Times reports:

In a Dec. 12 e-mail, district administrators told arts instructors with the Arts Community Partnership Network to cancel all work immediately and that payments might be delayed, though work could begin again next month if the state resolves its budget crisis.

                            

Although the Undie Run has been around since 2002 (in lieu of the Midnight Yell), major media outlets really didn't start to catch on until a few years ago. Last night, ESPN, NBC, FOX News and four LA Times staffers (Adam Rose produced a great video for them) were seen at the event. LAist has covered the event since 2006 so here is some of last night mixed up with the best of since '06:

The California State University (CSU) system is facing enrollment limits for the next academic year, and because of this, many CSU campuses are now having to limit the application period. Whereas once upon a time a prospective student could apply year-round to a CSU school for admission to an upcoming semester or quarter, now at least 9 campuses will be enforcing a November 30th application deadline for Fall 2009 starts, with many of the remaining campuses to follow shortly thereafter.

While only Sylmar High School remains in use as a shelter in the San Fernando Valley for evacuees from the Sayre Fire, all Los Angeles Unified School District schools--including Sylmar HS--will be open tomorrow, although there will be no "outdoor activities" taking place due to unhealthy air quality conditions. In Orange County, due to the "Triangle Complex Fire" Brea Public schools, Placentia/Yorba Linda Unified schools, and Brea-Olinda Friends Christian school will be closed.

Work is underway on the first phase of the Watts House Project, an ambitious and visionary project directed by Edgar Arceneaux and being tackled now by college students representing a wide range of backgrounds, as described by the LA Times: "[Y]oung men and women; white, black, Asian, Latin; some from USC, others UCLA, and still others from Cal Arts and Art Center [who] have set to work in front of a modest, cream-colored stucco bungalow on 107th Street."

As part of a week-long push, students on University of California campuses have been working hard to register as many Californians as possible before Monday's deadline. The effort is part of the UC Students Vote! Project, which began on October 13th and will run until the 20th. The week earned the endorsement of UC System President Yudof last month, and the last tally of newly registered voters was at 8,095 state-wide since the week began. The project is the largest non-partisan youth voter engagement mobilization in the state, and is led and and comprised entirely of students.

The Daily News has published a series of articles today regarding the financial layout of the Los Angeles Unified School District's administration, and points to what appears to be a bit of an upper-tier bloat. As the LAUSD preps to face a massive budget cut, some wonder if now is the time to trim the fat downtown at their administrative headquarters.

After two attacks nearly 24 hours apart from each other early Friday and Saturday mornings, USC campus police and the LAPD are telling students to stay alert, walk in well-lit areas and in groups. Both attacks were off, but near campus involving female students.

Yesterday, parents his the streets of downtown Los Angeles to protest decisions made by the Los Angeles Unified School District who denied space for charter schools, which are still public schools, but are run differently. The LA Times explains:

The Revolution is coming! K-12 LAUSD kids, look out! Your lunches are about to get a whole hell of a lot better--and better for you.

USC football is back. Not that it really went away. Early struggles in Saturday's hot rivalry game against Cal mirrored the fan's inconsistent start this season. But just like Troy's lock-down defense and explosive offense did against the Bears, the fans have come roaring back to the Los Angeles Coliseum. USC now owns a record five consecutive Pac 10 Championships and the worst they can do this season is play in the Rose Bowl....

After averaging 6,950 students at football games over the last three years (max of 7,540), USC realized that they didn’t need to reserve all 12,000 seats. With even cheap seats running $35 at each of 6 home games, they could project $1,060,500 in lost ticket sales for the 2006 season.