Middle School

BURBANK — Luther Burbank Middle School staff members are in a tight squeeze this month. The attendance office is the last thing to be ripped up and redone at the tail end of the school’s $12.9-million modernization project. But it is resulting in staff members returning from their winter breaks to desks pushed together in a makeshift office. “It’s a little bit disconcerting,” said Aggie Sosa, attendance clerk at Luther Middle School. “We’re hanging in there.

BURBANK — Math and science students at Luther Burbank Middle School clamored for a chance to make marks on a new whiteboard last week, without the use of ink. Teachers and students in three classrooms got their first cracks at a new tool called the Smart Board, an interactive whiteboard that incorporates touch-screen technology and Internet access, among other capabilities. “There are so many different applications,” said Joe Reed, sixth-grade science and math teacher.

BURBANK — A Burbank court denied a petition Sunday by J-Kel Painting & Wallcovering Inc. to overturn the school board’s decision to replace the company as a subcontractor on Luther Middle School’s modernization project. J-Kel Painting & Wallcovering Inc. was contracted for painting services at the school in June 2006 but was terminated three months later by PW Construction, the company hired by the district to complete the $12.9 million modernization. Burbank Unified School District attorneys Jeff Marderosian and Nancy Doumanian maintain that the subcontractor was replaced because of an unwillingness to finish the agreed-upon painting work at the school.

It was almost 2 p.m. on Thursday afternoon when a classroom of middle school students broke out into the chorus of “Lean on Me.” The 30-person sing-along was the culmination of social studies teacher Anthony Dima’s second “Rock the Classroom” course, a program that incorporates literacy fundamentals into music instruction. Students at John Muir and Luther Burbank middle schools as well as Emerson Elementary will participate in the Rock the Classroom courses for 12 weeks.

BURBANK — School board members approved a nearly $160,000 design contract Thursday for field improvements at David Starr Jordan Middle School — an increase of more than three times the original amount. The original contract for services on the joint-use field improvement project was settled at $46,200 in mid-April with the architectural firm Adolph Ziemba AIA & Associates Inc. Modifications to the scope of work, including new parking lot improvements that would add 70 off-street public parking spaces, resulted in the cost increase, according to a district report.

Two local teachers, one from the Burbank Unified School District and one from Glendale, were honored Friday as two of the top educators in Los Angeles County. Christine DeMore, a vocal music teacher at David Starr Jordan Middle School in Burbank, and Mark Ouweleen, a sixth-grade teacher at Columbus Elementary School in Glendale, were chosen along with 14 other teachers as the 2007-08 Los Angeles County Teachers of the Year. The 16 teachers will go on to compete in the state Teacher of the Year competition this fall.

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 — Contractors at Luther Burbank Middle School are struggling this month to recover from several foul-ups that have left the school's modernization project behind schedule. Senior Facilities Director Craig Jellison reported to the School Facilities Oversight Committee on July 10 that the project was 4 1/2 weeks behind schedule. Board of Education Vice President Larry Applebaum walked the premises last week and said the project, which includes an overhaul of the entire school, seems to be almost caught up. "By the time [students]

CITY HALL — High usage of sports fields at Jordan Middle School has brought unwanted parking congestion and activity to surrounding neighborhoods, some Rancho District residents told the City Council on Tuesday. Residents living on the 300 block of Lomita Avenue collected 22 signatures on a petition asking for city officials to consider instituting permit parking seven days per week between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., resident Robert Caplan said. "This last weekend … our street was completely filled up," he said.

When Sharon Cuseo began her career in education 18 years ago, she fostered no plans of becoming a principal. "It never even occurred to me," said Cuseo, who is scheduled to become David Starr Jordan Middle School's principal next semester. "It was kind of just a natural progression, but when I first started, that was not in my mind at all." But come July— when Principal Mary Margaret Kljunak retires after 16 years in the post — Cuseo will take the reins. Kljunak began her career teaching at Jordan Middle in 1969 and has worked in the Burbank Unified School District for 38 years.