EDUCATION
School board President Mary Boger had her job description grow exponentially last week after being elected vice president of the largest state educational association in the nation.
Boger will not have to relocate to Sacramento, but her position in the California School Boards Assn. leadership will require a lot of traveling.
She will finish her term as Glendale Unified’s board president, and said the new responsibilities would be arranged around her local schedule.
The promotion will put Boger on the front lines advocating for public education when the state is spending almost 3% less per student this year compared with 2008-09, and when her own district is projecting a major deficit in 2012-13.
A delegation of Vietnamese education leaders visited three Glendale Unified School District campuses looking for the best practices to bring home as that country prepares for ambitious education reform.
Glendale Unified officials maintain close ties to USC and were connected to the foreigners through the university’s school of education. The Vietnamese Ministry of Education is preparing to sponsor thousands of students’ Western education, and wanted officials to see some slices of the American system.
The Vietnamese delegation participated in a professional development day at Marshall Elementary School, toured classrooms with other Glendale school teachers and asked questions, said Katherine Thorossian, the assistant superintendent for educational services.
The delegation was treated to a robotics presentation by students at Clark Magnet High School and inspected Toll Middle School, and was unaccustomed to class sizes smaller than 40 or 45 students, Thorossian said.
Campuses were chosen because they matched the delegation’s mission to observe English-language instruction, diversity and leadership training.
POLITICS
Assemblyman Paul Krekorian (D-Los Angeles) is on his way to the Los Angeles City Council after being elected by a double-digit margin Tuesday, a shift that has set the stage for what is expected to be a contentious special election to fill his Sacramento seat.
Krekorian earned 57% of the 19,170 votes cast, defeating former Paramount Pictures executive Christine Essel, who won more than 43% of voters.
