Week in Review

EDUCATION

Eighth-grader Vanuhi Khdryan heard the warning tone Monday outside Toll Middle School, but stuck around a few minutes waiting for her friends on their first day back from summer break.

Glenwood Road — which, according to the state Department of Education, accommodates more than 4,300 students on their way to Toll Middle, Keppel Elementary and Hoover High School — was the scene of the usual hustle and bustle as school began Monday.

Glendale Unified officials said the opening bell was a success, a radical departure from last year when school was delayed during the Station fire.

Families walked along Glenwood Road as crossing guards kept watch. At Keppel Elementary, families huddled around whiteboards that listed classroom teachers. Motorists shared the road, cutting down on double parking.

Glendale resident Sal Tipu and his two daughters found their Keppel classes quickly, he said.

Two miles east and three hours later, state Supt. Jack O'Connell joined Glendale Unified officials and families at R.D. White Elementary School to welcome students back to class, but also press state leaders to release federal stimulus funds.

Glendale Unified officials expect to receive up to $5 million, which was earmarked to rehire more than 40 laid-off teachers.

The rally featured several student classes flanking elected officials, parents and teachers who spoke in the school's quad.

Students, all of them younger than 12, said they were no strangers to budget cuts.

Fifth-grader Lilia Vasghanian said understanding budget cuts is universal, not merely belonging in the domain of adults or elected officials.

BUSINESS

Short sales finally may be having their day.

The number of short sales — in which lenders agree to sell homes for less than what is owed on the current mortgages — in Glendale from May through July more than doubled compared with the same period in 2009, from 21 to 45, according to statistics compiled by agent Keith Sorem with Keller Williams in Glendale.

For the region including Glendale, Burbank, La Crescenta and La Cañada Flintridge, the number of short sales grew from 61 over that three-month period in 2009 to 90 in the same timeframe this year.