Glendale Unified School District

Dual-language programs explained The Glendale Unified School District will hold an information session for parents on its foreign language academies in four elementary schools in the school district. The school district has dual-language programs in Korean, Armenian and Spanish and is planning to start a German program this fall. The event will include information on the advantages of bilingualism. The information session will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the school district?

Gary Moskowitz GLENDALE -- Assemblyman Dario Frommer (D-Burbank) will host a special town hall meeting on terrorism and emergency preparedness on Wednesday. The meeting is open to the public and will be from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Glendale Fire Station No. 21, 421 Oak St. in Glendale. The meeting will include information on what state, local cities and schools are doing to prepare for and prevent future terrorist attacks. Frommer and other community leaders will listen to concerns from area residents.

  Tony Tartaglia and Vahe Peroomian returned to their seats on the Glendale Community College Board of Trustees, but challenger Christine Rodriguez nearly closed the gap coming within 172 votes of Peroomian. The race for the two open seats on the Glendale Unified School District Board of Education was a dash for second place. Boger had a commanding lead throughout the evening has results came in leaving the rest of the candidates vying for the second spot vacated by Pam Ellis’s retirement from the board.

Scholarships were presented to three Glendale Community College students during the Glendale-Foothill Division of the California Retired Teachers Assn. meeting on June 4 at the Elks Lodge in Glendale. Cord Greene will enter UCLA in the fall as a history major. Mery Vardanian will also enter UCLA and plans to eventually coach high school basketball. Arash Taheri Lotfi is on his way to UC Berkeley as an economics major. All three plan to teach. Each received a $1,500 scholarship to help them realize their goals.

Darleene Barrientos In a role reversal, Glenoaks Elementary School teacher Elena Heimerl is spending her summer as an intern at Crescenta Valley High School, where Rosemont Middle School students are taking classes. Heimerl isn't regressing, she is finishing up her master's degree and administrative credentials this year. An administrative internship is one of the program's requirements. "I love teaching," Heimerl said. "But I just wanted to get this under my belt.

Gary Moskowitz GLENDALE -- The school board will review a report Tuesday that shows workers' compensation costs tugging more heavily on the district's purse. The number of claims and the cost of those claims have risen significantly, particularly in the last two years, said Stephen Hodgson, chief business and financial officer for the school district. Hodgson noted that increased costs in workers' compensation is not unique to Glendale Unified. The district's workers' compensation costs could amount to about 2% of its operating budget, which is about $200 million, Hodgson said.

GLENDALE — California’s community college system wants students to start thinking about career paths early. The Career Exploration and Development for 7th and 8th Graders grant, from the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, allocates $150,000 to Glendale Community College for training counselors at middle schools in Glendale and Burbank unified school districts. College board President Armine Hacopian, who was a middle school counselor for more than 12 years, said sixth, seventh and eighth grade are the transition years from childhood to the teenage years.

BURBANK ? Schools in Burbank and Glendale scored above the state standards on a series of state-mandated physical fitness tests, according to a California Department of Education report. Students in the fifth, seventh and ninth grades took the test, which required them to perform six physical fitness tasks. "In physical education, there has been drastic changes in the last 20 years, in that the state has enacted physical education standards," Burbank High Principal Bruce Osgood said.

One of Glendale Unified School District's three National Merit Scholarship Finalists speaks English as a third language. One is a homecoming princess and a drama queen. The third competes on the tennis court and in academic quizzes. Seniors Mkrtich Ohanyan of Clark Magnet High School, Polet Bagatourian of Crescenta Valley High School and Andrew Bagwell of Hoover High School all received the honor making them eligible for $1,000 scholarships. Only about 15,000 students of the 1.3 million who apply for the scholarship program are named finalists by the nonprofit Illinois-based National Merit Scholarship Corp.

Irma Lemus BURBANK -- The Burbank Unified School District could reap up to $827,000 under a proposal by state Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) to provide money for districts that have lost out because of changes in the way the state tallies attendance figures. Senate Bill 1542 passed the Senate Education Committee by a unanimous vote April 14 -- making it eligible to be heard in the Senate as early as April 26, Schiff aides said. The measure would help districts at the bottom of the school funding ladder, Schiff said, by returning money that was lost by students' excused absences.

Burbank and Glendale officials on Friday said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s latest proposals for closing a $19.1-billion state budget deficit could weigh down on the region and affect local residents. The governor proposed closing the gap with $12.4 billion in spending cuts, about $3.4 billion in funding shifts and about $3.4 billion in federal funds. The current deficit is the third major budget hole that Schwarzenegger and the Legislature have faced in two years as tax revenues have plummeted during the economic downturn.

The upcoming school year will probably be shortened so Glendale and Burbank unified school districts can cut costs. Unpaid work furlough days are not a done deal, officials in both districts say, but they remain a major topic in contract negotiations between the Glendale Unified School District and its teachers union, officials said. In Burbank Unified, furloughs are expected to be discussed when district officials and the Burbank Teachers Assn. begin negotiating in the next few months on a 2010-11 contract.

While I think that parenting has much more to do with the increase in teenage substance abuse, I do agree with John Marshall’s claim that the school curriculum does not meet the needs of many of our students (“Kids are being bored into substance abuse,” Jan. 9). The unfortunate truth is that after years of research into brain functioning and learning styles, we know how to do things better. However, large class sizes and lack of funding impede educators from putting these theories into practice.

As California lawmakers begin forming a plan to address an estimated $21-billion budget shortfall by mid-2011, city and school officials in Burbank and Glendale have less of a voice. The cities, which lie largely within the 43rd Assembly District, are without Assemblyman Paul Krekorian (D-Los Angeles), who stepped down from his post and took his oath of office at the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday. That leaves the district’s Assembly seat vacant for at least four months, according to the California secretary of state’s office.

Burbank and Glendale school district officials on Friday said they intend to maintain the status quo in terms of spending and programs, even as state officials lay the groundwork for midyear budget cuts. School districts statewide must decide between spending down their reserves more quickly or bracing for cuts and layoffs after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s announcement Tuesday that there would be across-the-board cuts of between $5 billion and $7 billion to the state budget.

GLENDALE — An additional tax that could steer Glendale and Burbank school districts away from a looming funding cliff has piqued the interest of administrators, especially with the latest warning coming down from Sacramento. A parcel tax, which recently won in Culver City and failed in Long Beach, could preserve teaching jobs, class sizes, and arts and athletic programs that might otherwise face additional cuts as state financing fails to meet budget projections. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger predicted Tuesday that there would be additional cuts in education and other funding as the state continues to grapple with a budget cap between $5 billion and $7 billion.

HILLSIDE— Maria Knizer swung by the ninth annual Women’s Educational Health Conference and Expo for one reason. “I haven’t had a mammogram in three years,” she said. “I’m supposed to have one every year.” She did not get the X-ray exam at the event, but was given a few leads to organizations that provide free testing. Knizer said she can’t afford health insurance as a school bus driver for Glendale Unified School District.

DOWNTOWN — Students in Glendale and Burbank made historic gains in standardized test scores for 2009, according to data released Tuesday by the California Department of Education. More students met the state’s proficiency marks than ever before for almost every testing category, according to the reports. Some grade levels made striking double-digit gains in some areas, particularly in the fourth grade. About 75% of Burbank Unified School District fourth-graders scored at or above the state’s proficiency rating for English and language arts, up from 66% in 2008 and 60% the year before.