This week, Los Angeles Unified Supt. Austin Beutner announced his resignation, effective June 30, after 3 years in charge. (On Friday, the school board named Megan Reilly, the districts current deputy superintendent of business services and operations, to be interim superintendent.) We discuss the pressures and tensions of leading the nation’s second largest school district during the pandemic and the challenges lying ahead.
Also this week, California released data showing a 2.6% decline in K-12 enrollment, the largest drop in 20-plus years. More than a third was in kindergarten. We examine what districts must do to help our youngest students catch up with lost reading and socializing skills.
John Fensterwald and Louis Freedberg are the cohosts. Our guests are:
- John Rogers, professor with UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies and director of UCLA’s Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access;
- Arun Ramanathan, CEO of the Oakland-based nonprofit Pivot Learning.
For background, read these EdSource stories:
- Why Los Angeles superintendent will step down after managing through pandemic
- One year after teachers’ strike, LA school district chief says strike did not solve ’decades of frustration’
- Q&A: L.A. Unified’s Austin Beutner on the toll of the pandemic
- Missing kindergartners drive largest drop in 20 years in California’s K-12 enrollment
- What happens to children who missed kindergarten during Covid-19 crisis?
- Should kindergarten be mandatory in California?
Also:
Pivot Learning’s Resources for Getting Students Back on Track