Capistrano Unified School District

The beleaguered Capistrano Unified School District has placed its popular superintendent on administrative leave -- about a year after he succeeded a previous leader indicted on allegations of misappropriating public funds. The move against Supt. A. Woodrow Carter comes three weeks after school board trustees held a meeting to discuss his performance. Hundreds of parents and students showed up at that meeting to support Carter.

President Obama's speech to students next week may be a "teachable moment," as some educators see it, but it will not be a command performance. A combination of scheduling, academic priorities and sheer bandwidth will keep the president out of many Southern California classrooms when he goes on the air Tuesday. "We're an academic institution, and our responsibility is to cover specific content standards," said James Stratton, superintendent of schools for La Cañada Unified School District, where the school year got off to a late and rocky start because of the nearby wildfires.