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Updated – March 17, 2025

An LAUSD student is recovering from stab wounds after being attacked by another student. The live report from NBCLA (below) said Benjamin Franklin High School was placed on a temporary lockdown during the incident.

Please send tips, updates, and feedback on the Los Angeles Unified School District to [email protected].

Updated – June 24, 2024

In light of a 5–2 board decision, LAUSD will ban cellphone and social media use for K-12 students during school. 

According to ABC News, this decision comes after U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy wrote an op-ed for the New York Times wherein he called for a “warning label on social media platforms.” This proposed label would be similar to the surgeon general warning label placed on nicotine products.

In his op-ed, the Surgeon General made the following declaration which is followed by “evidence” he uses to support his demands with respect to student use of social media: 

“It is time to require a surgeon general’s warning label on social media platforms, stating that social media is associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents. A surgeon general’s warning label, which requires congressional action, would regularly remind parents and adolescents that social media has not been proved safe. Evidence from tobacco studies show that warning labels can increase awareness and change behavior. When asked if a warning from the surgeon general would prompt them to limit or monitor their children’s social media use, 76 percent of people in one recent survey of Latino parents said yes.”

The Surgeon General called for “Legislation from Congress” that will “shield young people from online harassment, abuse and exploitation and from exposure to extreme violence and sexual content that too often appears in algorithm-driven feeds.”

Within 120 days — before the 2024 Fall semester begins — LAUSD must create and enact a policy that will prohibit student cellphone and social media use throughout the day. 

During a meeting, Board Member Nick Melvoin stated the following of the board’s decision to make this ban:

“Students are glued to their cellphones, not unlike adults. They are surreptitiously scrolling during school, during class time. They have their head in their hand walking down the hallways. They’re not talking to each other or playing at lunch.” 

He further claimed that students in other districts that have made similar bans are better off in light of them:

 “Kids are happier, they’re talking to one another, their academics are up.”

The enactment of any prohibition of cellphone and social media usage by LAUSD will be monitored by the School Board Watchlist and updated promptly.

Updated – April 12, 2024

A high school student in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) died four days after hitting her head during a fight.

According to Daily Mail, “A devastated mother has claimed her 16-year-old daughter died after being badly beaten by bullies … [The victim] collapsed just days after she was attacked inside a bathroom at Manual Arts High School.”

In December 2023, the student came home from school with bruises on her arms and chest. She told her mother she was getting bullied and had gotten into a fight. Her mother reported the issue to school administrators but claims she was brushed off, and the district took no action. On March 5, 2024, video footage showed the student was attacked again and hit her head against a bathroom stall during the brawl.

Daily Mail also said, “[The student’s mother] said her daughter complained about headaches for several days but continued to attend school before she went to a party the following Saturday night, according to KTLA. [She] suffered a hemorrhage due to brain injuries and collapsed while at the party. She was rushed to [the] hospital but never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead on March 15.”

The KTLA report and video can be viewed below. Content warning.

The Los Angeles Times reported, “The Los Angeles County medical examiner this weekend ruled [the student’s] death accidental, finding the cause of death was ‘sequelae of blunt head trauma,’ or the result of a prior head injury.”

Student violence appears to be a continuous and unresolved issue in LAUSD. 

On July 13, 2023, CBS News reported, “A 14-year-old female student was beaten in front of her teacher. The family believes the teacher could have and should have stopped it … Some believe the district itself put both the teacher and student in a dangerous situation that was inevitable, and could inevitably happen again.” 

The attack reportedly happened while the teacher, Evan Diamond, was escorting the student to the basketball courts after class. CBS said that when Diamond was asked why he did not break up the fight, he replied, “I don’t want to speak on the matter.”

In August 2022, CBS News published a report that showed at least 75 aggravated assaults were reported on LAUSD campuses. At that time, an LAPD officer told reporters, “This is a result of not having officers on campus, we used to have school police officers assigned here. A police car in front of the school to show that there was an officer on campus, or two, to make sure that kids were safe.”

In addition to the assaults, the report said 332 batteries and 12 arsons occurred on LAUSD campuses in 2021.

Please send tips, updates, and information on the Los Angeles Unified School District to [email protected]. 

Updated – March 15, 2024

Students climbed fences to escape the campus of Taft High School amid the threat of a potential school shooting that came from a series of Instagram posts. The threat was ultimately a false alarm, but arrests have been made by the LAPD.

According to KTLA 5, some students at Taft High School had seen an Instagram post of “a guy with a gun” who made the following warning, in the words of one student:

“Be careful … I’m going to come on Tuesday [March 15] and just shoot everyone.” 

The student said, “The rumor [of the shooting spread] like wildfire.”

The post came from an account called “@taftcaughtslippin,” which also posted an image of siren emojis accompanied by the text “school is getting shot today around 4th period stay tuned.” There was also a post from the same account showing what appeared to be a male student with a gun on his lap. (See images below courtesy of KTLA 5).

Another student stated of the incident, “I saw [a post that said] ‘I’m going to shoot up the school during fourth period’ and I went to the next [Instagram] story and it was him with a gun on his lap. I was in a state of panic … everyone was in a state of panic.”

The Los Angeles Police Department was notified of the threat at 9 am on March 12. A suspect has been arrested forthwith.

A LAUSD spokesperson stated the following regarding the incident to CBS News:

“Law enforcement has identified and arrested the person responsible. At this time, there is no indication that the individual, who is not a student of LAUSD, posed a credible threat to students and staff.”

Updated – December 4, 2023

According to the Washington Post, “The Los Angeles Unified School District has settled a lawsuit brought by a former student who said the district curbed her free speech rights by limiting her ability to criticize the consumption of cow’s milk at school.” The lawsuit was filed in May 2023. 

Marielle Williamson, the former student, along with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, sued the district and the U.S. Department of Agriculture after Williamson “was told she could not share literature alleging that the dairy industry harms human health, animals and the environment.” 

Prior to the settlement, unless they had a doctor’s note, no plant-based milk options were available for students in the district. Yet, according to the Washington Post, the district will only provide one plant-based milk alternative in light of the lawsuit: 

“As part of the settlement, the school district said it will support giving free soy milk to students who request it.”

The Washington Post says the student “was taking an ethical stance on the use of animal dairy.” The student “chose to protest this decision by distributing literature sharing her views promoting nondairy milk at her high school. But she was told by administrators that it wasn’t allowed unless she also extolled the virtues of cow’s dairy.”

The district stated the following regarding the lawsuit: 

“Los Angeles Unified takes pride in empowering students to amplify their voice on issues they find important. Our Food Services Program follows USDA guidelines and we continue to support our students with nutritious meals and healthy alternatives for those who have specific dietary requests and requirements.”

Updated – March 24, 2023

With the support of LAUSD teachers, district service workers began a three-day strike  in demand of “better wages and increased staffing,” according to the Associated Press. As a result of the strikes,  ABC News reports that LAUSD had “to cancel classes for 420,000 students.”

Representing the strikers was Local 99 of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU Local 99), which chose not to negotiate with the district. Associated Press reports that LAUSD Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho has been willing to negotiate with the union: 

“We remain ready to return to negotiations with SEIU Local 99 so we can provide an equitable contract to our hardworking employees and get our students back in classrooms.”

According to the Associated Press, “During the strike, about 150 of the district’s more than 1,000 schools remained open with adult supervision but no instruction, to give students somewhere to go.”

SEIU Local 99 is seeking a 30% raise for the service workers, while district teachers would like a 20% pay hike. The Associated Press reports the district’s response to the workers’ demands:

“The district has offered a cumulative 23% raise, starting with 2% retroactive as of the 2020-21 school year and ending with 5% in 2024-25. The package would also include a one-time 3% bonus for those who have been on the job more than a year, along with more full-time positions and an expansion of healthcare benefits.”

Superintendent Carvahlo claims this offer “addresses the needs and concerns from the union, while also remaining fiscally responsible and keeping the District in a financially stable position.” Even Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has become involved in the dispute between the union and district, stating:

“I will make sure the wellbeing of L.A. students always comes first as I continue to work with all parties to reach an agreement to reopen the schools and guarantee fair treatment of all LAUSD workers.”

The employees who have been on strike are expected to return to their jobs on Friday, March 24, 2023, according to SEIU Local 99. Thursday, March 23 was the last day of the strike. As of March 24, no deal has been made between the union and the district for increased employee wages and staffing. 

Updated – May 6, 2022

Van Nuys High School, part of the Los Angeles Unified School District, offers information on abortion resources for teenagers. The website provides the phone numbers of the National Abortion Federation Hotline (NAF) and the nearest Planned Parenthood; it also includes a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning resources page. This source is also known as LAUSD Project 10 which was launched in 1984. The LAUSD page includes many resources for students such as understanding the gender spectrum, sex,etc., teaching tolerance, the minority AIDS project, and much more. For more information, you can find this page in the “For Students” tab. 

One of the resources listed above, sex,etc., provides information on abortion along with an “Action Center” section where teens can easily access Planned Parenthood, sex, porn, free condoms, and more. Gender spectrum, also listed above, has online programs for the youth, gender surveys, a variety of activities on gender dysphoria, and more. According to Breitbart.com, the site explains that under California law, “Teens are not required to ask their parent or guardian for permission for an abortion.” NewsMax states that “the LA district has also partnered with Planned Parenthood for teens since 2019, which it refers to as one of its ”Student Wellbeing Centers,” according to the outlet.” 

Project U Los Angeles is another source for kids and teens (listed on LAUSD) that promotes sex, masturbation, pregnancy and parenting tips, transgender blogs, differentiating sex assigned at birth and gender identity, and much more. Pictured below are Project U resources for youth and teens:

The information provided on Van Nuys High School’s website is promoted for teenagers by the school and the aforementioned organizations.

If you would like more information on the district’s Educational Equity Compliance Office, click here. 

Published – October 4, 2021

Los Angeles Unified School District yet again used their power to manipulate and control the children and parents of their district. Students need to scan into school using a QR code that was custom made for LA Unified by Microsoft. The QR code scans to look at student and teachers health screenings, COVID test results, and makes sure that vaccination records are up to par with the districts standards. The application is a living database that will track more than half a million students and about 75,000 employees. Students cannot enter the school building if their app does not reflect a negative COVID test. There are examples where it took a student 3 weeks to be able to return to school because her test results were not loading into the app. Even though she had a negative test result, she was banished from school grounds until she could show proof of a negative test.

In what may be the largest overreach by a school district in history, LA Unified mandated that all children 12 years and older MUST be vaccinated against COVID-19 by January 1, 2022 in order to attend school in person. LA Unified has made a serious effort to be the first to mandate more restrictions against children, and continue their effort to set the precedent for other radical school districts across America. There are no exemptions allowed for religious or personal beliefs.

In July 2021, LAUSD unanimously passed a resolution that denounced antisemitism and anti-Israeli rhetoric, the Los Angeles Daily News reported. The resolution also called on the district to update its Jewish history and culture curriculum and instructional materials and provide more training to staff about how to respond to anti-semitic speech and incidents. The LAUSD and the teachers’ union, United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA), have historically been at the forefront in teaching young people to reject xenophobia and racism. However, recently activists within the union expressed support for a resolution backing the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement against the State of Israel. This directly contradicts LAUSD’s latest antisemitism resolution and has yet to be addressed by the school board.

Amidst recent tensions with school districts and on-campus police, LAUSD was faced with decisions of its own. In February 2021, the board voted to remove officers from campuses, ban them from using pepper spray on students, and to eliminate 133 positions, including 70 sworn officer positions, from the district’s school police department. By stripping $25 million from the LAUSD — or about a third of its budget — board members redirected those dollars toward a $36.5 million Black Student Achievement Plan. In June, board members met once again to discuss further budget cuts. At the meeting, board member Tanya Ortiz Franklin urged her colleagues to cut 32 currently vacant positions within the department and to shift an estimated $4 million in resulting savings to other areas of the budget. Her effort fell short of votes, however. Board members chose to not make those cuts in June, but community members continue to apply pressure in hopes of completely removing any and all police presence from LAUSD schools. Dr. Melina Abdullah, a professor at CSU Los Angeles and co-founder of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, said she is confident the Los Angeles Schools Police Department (LASPD) will eventually be defunded.

“It’s not about if we are going to defund that budget,” Dr. Abdullah said. “It’s about how quickly are we going to defund the budget.”

The Los Angeles Unified School District has an enrollment of 483,234 students, making it the largest singular school district in the country. The district’s budget for the 2021-22 school year is $7.59 billion.