A Los Angeles Superior Court judge Wednesday denied LA Unified’s request to dismiss a lawsuit filed by well-known former fifth-grade teacher Rafe Esquith, who was fired in October. Esquith filed the defamation lawsuit against the district in August after he was placed on paid leave and assigned to “teacher jail” pending an internal investigation after a...

* UPDATED In a major policy shift, the LA Unified school district will no longer require teachers under investigation to report to so-called “teacher jails.” Instead, teachers will be allowed to go home, with the understanding that they must remain there during their working hours unless they are summoned elsewhere as part of the investigation.The...