Claudia Peschiutta
GLENDALE - It may not be much to look at, but a small parking lot on
South Brand Boulevard is generating a lot of talk among teachers and
school officials.
With the reconstruction of Allan F. Daily High School's south campus
set to begin in June, the Brand lot between Acacia and Garfield Avenues
is at the top of the Glendale Unified School District's list of temporary
locations for students at the site.
"We don't have anything else," said Stephen Hodgson, assistant
superintendent of business services for Glendale Unified. The district
and the city are working together to find more potential locations, he
said.
The district-owned Brand lot sits behind the Roosevelt campus, and
news of Daily's potential move has not been well-received by at least one
teacher at the middle school.
"We're really upset," said Rick Sherrick, a seventh-grade teacher and
yearbook advisor at Roosevelt. "I don't know of one teacher that buys
into this move."
Sherrick said he is concerned that older students from the
continuation high school will be a bad influence for Roosevelt kids.
"The most wrong thing you can do is put that school behind Roosevelt,"
he said. "All it takes is one or two bad apples to influence our kids to
do not so good things."
Daily Principal Gail Rosental said students at both the south campus,
at 220 N. Kenwood St., and the north campus in La Crescenta have been
good neighbors to those in the area and would do the same at the Brand
site.
"Wherever we go, we have every, every intention of being wonderful
neighbors," she said.
Rosental challenged the negative stereotypes associated with
continuation school students and said the majority of those at Daily are
there because they have fallen behind academically, not because of
disciplinary problems.
George Engbrecht, an assistant principal at Roosevelt, was reluctant
to comment on the potential Daily move. However, he did say that while it
might cause some problems, it could also benefit the school by providing
the campus with temporary classrooms it will need when undergoing future
reconstruction.
"Change is never accepted well by anybody," he said. "Anything that is
different and beyond the ordinary is viewed with caution."
Clyde Nash, who lives near Roosevelt, fears moving Daily students to
the Brand lot will increase local traffic and lead to other problems,
such as graffiti.
"My main, big problem is how much more mess they're going to make," he
said.
Sherrick said he and a small group of teachers plan to fight the
possible move and enlist the help of school parents.
"We have to stand up and say this is wrong," he said. "It is not right
for the welfare of our kids."
Rosental said anyone has the right to oppose having Daily in their
area, but hopes that they will give her students a chance.
"They're Glendale's children," she said. "Our students need the very
best from our school district and our community."
