EDUCATION
Edison, Keppel and Franklin elementary schools could be converted to magnet campuses this fall if Glendale Unified School District is awarded a $3-million federal grant.
Under the proposed change for next school year, Edison would have an advanced technology component throughout the curriculum, Keppel would elevate arts instruction, and Franklin would feature additional foreign-language classes and an arts academy.
District officials are preparing an application for a three-year, $3-million federal grant to pay for the program, said Joanna Junge, Glendale Unified’s director of special projects and professional development.
The application is due Monday. Officials from the U.S. Department of Education plan to notify winning schools in August, said Edison Principal Kelly King, one of the grant’s lead authors.
Glendale High Foods and Bistro teacher Debbie Greenwood bought ingredients to challenge students in their Iron Chef and mystery basket competition Wednesday.
The roughly 25 students who take the class and work in the Glendale High Bistro can handle pretty much anything, they said. The young chefs can now do it with a new facility — complete with a walk-in refrigerator, walk-in pantry, full sets of pots, pans, cutting boards, measuring cups, ice cream makers, stainless steel work tables, stoves and an ironclad $250 can opener.
Students moved in this semester, but their chopping, sauteing and chiffoning (a leafy-vegetable-cutting technique) goes back to before 2000, when students prepared meals for presidential candidate Al Gore, and future Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The kitchen has produced chefs for Simon Cowell, as well as employees for celebrity chefs like Thomas Keller, Greenwood said.
In 2008, students competed against Bobby Flay, a Food Network television star, in a cupcake “throw-down.” This semester, students served meals for an accreditation team of teachers, administrators and district officials from across California who were visiting to review Glendale High’s academic performance and student activities.
PUBLIC SAFETY
A Glendale resident who was convicted of cigarette fraud and tax evasion in April 2008 was sentenced Wednesday to more than seven years in a federal prison.
