Educators

Just hours after delivering the state of the state address in Sacramento, Gov. Jerry Brown brought his message to Burbank Wednesday, meeting with several dozen local educators at Bret Harte Elementary School to discuss how his budget proposal would affect education on the ground level. Brown spent about 20 minutes with Burbank Unified administrators providing an exchange that participants described as warm and frank. “It was a good meeting,” Burbank Unified Supt. Stan Carrizosa said.

Molly Shore What if high school graduation requirements included laying railroad tracks, working at the Special Olympics, or cleaning up beaches and riverbanks? For Burbank students, it can be any of those tasks, and many more. The volunteer work is part of the service-learning program every public high school student must complete to graduate. "Unlike community service, service-learning is not court-ordered, and is not a punishment," said Claudene Bell, teacher on special assignment, who oversees the program at Burroughs High School.

Irma Lemus BURBANK -- Teachers and administrators who have served the Burbank Unified School District for a combined 550 years were honored at Thursday's Board of Education meeting. The 20 educators who were recognized have worked at the district for between 17 and 38 years. They are Julia Black and Neala Sullivan from John Muir Middle School; Roma Chavez and Ruth Mottem from Ralph W. Emerson Children's Center; Marilyn Deal, Lois Futrell and Patricia Kowalke from George Washington Elementary; Judy Dexter of the district's fiscal services office; Martha Hankins from Robert Louis Stevenson Elementary; Frank Kallem, Dave Kemp, Clyde Richards and Merle Stone from Burbank High; Claudia Larsen from Theodore Roosevelt Elementary; Margaret Lucas from Bret Harte Children's Center; Margarita Sandoval from the Adult School; Joyce Sedlak from Thomas Jefferson Elementary; Elizabeth Sjolund and Lynne Uhl from Joaquin Miller Elementary; and Marlene Urrutia from Walt Disney Elementary.

Molly Shore When Ancell Schecker of the Dominican Republic's ministry of education told Lynn Morgan's fifth-grade class at Miller Elementary School that her country's favorite sport is baseball, a student responded with two words --"Sammy Sosa," referring to the Chicago Cubs' home run king who hails from that nation. Schecker was one of 10 educators from the Caribbean nation who came to Miller Elementary School as part of the Calabasas-based Center for Civic Education's exchange program.

"The Kindergarten Cop" isn't winning over many students in Burbank, or their teachers. In fact, the governor isn't too popular with teachers and administrators all the way through to the high school level. And frankly, their frustration is understandable. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's revised May budget, announced last week, was not exactly an olive branch. Despite a $4-billion windfall, the governor offered only $252 million more to education in his revise than the original budget -- still a far cry from the $2 billion educators have been demanding he return in Proposition 98 funds.

Gary Moskowitz MEDIA DISTRICT WEST -- Robert Louis Stevenson Elementary School will dedicate its new playground this week. A dedication ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. Friday. Parents of Stevenson students are invited to attend and bring a picnic lunch to share with their children. Students in various grades at the school will read poetry, sing songs and read a note of thanks to educators who applied for the grant that funded the purchase of the playground equipment.

BURBANK — A lack of employment opportunities in trade industries has prompted Burbank Unified School District officials to look for ways the district can expand career technical opportunities and vocational training to students before they graduate from high school. The district hosted a career technical-education seminar Tuesday at Burbank High School for local business leaders and educators to exchange ideas on how schools can provide career technical opportunities to students who can be trained to qualify for positions in the trade industries.

Karen Hubbard Last Thursday morning, I had the distinct pleasure of being an invited guest at the Burbank/Magnolia Park Optimist Club's meeting. This special day was devoted to recognizing and honoring the 10 students selected from the 49 applicants who will receive club scholarships in the amount of $500 each. As I searched for a word to describe these students, their scholastic achievements, awards earned, volunteer community service given, athletic participation, goals and dreams, I continued to come up with the same word over and over again -- amazing!

California’s fiscal future, amid a swirl of mixed signals from politicians, educators and special-interest groups, will be in the hands of voters during a special election Tuesday. Legislators crafted five ballot measures as part of a plan to fix a $42-billion deficit. They added a sixth initiative to prevent elected officials from receiving pay raises during deficit years. But since developing the propositions, Democratic and Republican lawmakers have failed to endorse all of the measures on which their budget plan now relies.

I must have a lifelong misunderstanding. I was under the impression that the goal of education was to educate the individual. Obviously, I was wrong. The goal is to raise money (“ Language class could be a boon ,” May 8). I think someone should talk to Glendale teachers about the success of their language immersion program. The teachers have a lot of negative comments about these programs. Judi Glass Burbank 

The 2013 Leadership Burbank Class laughed while they raised funds for this year's community project “31 Violins” to support music education in the local elementary schools, said class member Amy Albano. More than 100 guests packed the Flappers Comedy Club in Downtown Burbank for the event on March 28. “Specifically, we are hoping to buy 31 violins and music stands for Providencia and Roosevelt elementary schools, and any extra money we have will go in general to support the program,” Albano said.

Longtime Burbank Unified School District educator Gail Copeland, who was born and raised in Burbank, died Jan. 12 from complications with cancer. She was 73. Copeland served the district for more than 42 years, spending the last 18 as principal of Joaquin Miller Elementary before retiring in 2003. She is survived by her husband, Douglas Copeland; her daughter, Chris Copeland - who is also a Burbank Unified teacher - and her son, Robert, and his wife Marci; along with two grandchildren.

Six months into her post as National Teacher of the Year, Rebecca Mieliwocki has traveled throughout California, to 11 states, and to Russia, China, Singapore and Japan. “It's been a whirlwind,” the Burbank Unified teacher said. “It's been six months of traveling the world and the country meeting people, and speaking to people on an inspirational level.” Oklahoma, Texas, Ohio and Indiana await her next - and possibly Australia - as she makes more than 200 speaking engagements before the end of her term.

The five Burbank residents running for two open seats on the Burbank Unified school board already agree on two main goals: maintaining academic performance and incorporating more technology into the classroom. Here's a look at the five candidates running for the Burbank board of education. -- David Dobson, 50, has lived in Burbank for 12 years and is running for the first time for a seat on the board. A freelance video editor and father of two children in Burbank schools, Dobson has been involved in the parent-teacher association for 12 years and is current PTA president at Disney Elementary.

Public education has changed drastically. Technology, specialized magnet campuses, charter schools, the importance of Advanced Placement courses and standardized student tests - if you graduated even 10 years ago, odds are, you wouldn't recognize your alma mater today. It has become a field driven by the need to keep pace with the changing times, and a big part of that now involves competition among districts. And key in that race is becoming specialized. In doing so, districts can poach students from outside their boundaries - an important factor in state education funding - and boost their prestige.

Offering what she called a “green New Deal,” Green Party presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein delivered a speech Thursday at Woodbury University in Burbank that focused on jobs, education and the economy. While President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal at the end of the Depression created public-sector jobs, Stein's plan would use incentives for small business to hire more employees and invest in green jobs. She said her proposal would be funded by scaling back the military and taking interest-free loans currently given to large corporations and directing them to small businesses instead.

Just a decade short of being a centenarian, like its host city, the Kiwanis Club of Burbank staged its 15th annual gala fundraiser at Lakeside Golf Club this past week. Chaired by Marsha Jackson, this event, established in 1998, which honors dedicated Burbank residents along with business and civic leaders for their leadership, compassion and generosity, this year tipped its hat to recently retired Woodbury University President Kenneth Nielsen and his wife, Rose. Nielsen, who served as the Glenoaks Boulevard university's 12th chief executive, came to Woodbury in 1996 after serving as the president of the College of Saint Mary in Omaha.

Good morning, readers. Today is Sunday, August 19. A North Hollywood fundraiser today has an international agenda. Churches and organizations seek to raise awareness of Assyrian families who are living in Syria but want to return to Iraq . "The problem is nobody cares about our people," Sargoun Issa, president of the Los Angeles chapter of the Assyrian Aid Society, told the Daily News. The Studio City Neighborhood Council is looking for volunteers for the upcoming Sept.

On a quiet stretch of San Fernando Boulevard, a few blocks south of Downtown Burbank, bright red and black letters on a large poster call attention to a place where students learn as cameras roll. Inside, on a recent Wednesday evening, a small group of would-be filmmakers and a teacher discussed lighting and the history of the camera. Among them was Jason Barr, 17, an aspiring screenwriter. “There is a lot of opportunity to learn, there are only four of us in the class, and our teacher has a lot of time for each of us individually,” Barr said.