Class Size

CLASS SIZE The Glendale Unified School District board approved an application for a class-size-reduction program, which provides incentive funding for schools to reduce class sizes for kindergarten through third grade. WHAT IT MEANS If granted by the California Department of Education, the district hopes to receive about $7 million in funds to help improve student-to-teacher ratios in primary level classrooms. NEW HORIZONS The board approved a memorandum of understanding with the New Horizons Family Center that would create a joint even-start education program to help students from low-income backgrounds.

I was in a pickle. As I took my seat for dinner and stared at what appeared to be a delicious salad, I noticed that I had three forks. "Hmm," I thought, "which one do I use?" I defer questions of etiquette to Kaitzer, but she was chatting with fellow Hoover High School alums, Christina and Dean Oakley. I surely wasn't going to ask my go-to guy Mike Riley. Ah! I'll ask Lisa Durkin! She'll know. She's French. Last Saturday night La Cañada came together at the 16th annual LCF Educational Foundation Spring Gala at the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel to raise money for the La Cañada Unified School District.

The Glendale Unified School District stands to be hit with a projected loss in income of more than $8.8 million in the middle of this school year should the Legislature approve Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed cuts to school districts. Additional reductions are also proposed for child care and categorical programs. In an informational bulletin, Glendale Supt. Michael Escalante wrote, “It is unclear at this time if this [reduction] would be a one-time reduction or whether it would be carried forward into 2009-10.

n Class size reduction stays; layoffs avoided By Mary O'Keefe For 10 months the Glendale Unified School District Board of Directors has worked on a budget for the 2004-05 school year, trying to bridge an expected $8 million deficit. The board finally unveiled its proposed budget for the next school year, and it looks much the same as it did 10 months ago. Now-retired superintendent Jim Brown called the district's projected deficit the "$8 Million Challenge." It is important to note, according to Stephan Hodgson, chief business and financial officer for the district, that the state applies a reserve to the school budget.

Darleene Barrientos Enrollment might be down in the city's public schools, but Glendale Unified School District officials are still struggling to make sure they meet the state's standard of 20 students per teacher in kindergarten through third grades. If a class has more than 20 students -- even just one more -- the choice is between putting that student in another class, in another school, or sustaining thousands of dollars of penalties from the state.

Gary Moskowitz Local educators are not rejoicing over the governor's newest budget proposal, saying that although it touts "increased funds," that only means the cuts they were expecting will not be as bad. Officials from the Glendale Unified School District and Glendale Community College saw a mix of good and bad points in the governor's revised budget, which was released Wednesday. The state is facing a budget shortfall of about $38 billion for the coming fiscal year.

Gary Moskowitz Glendale Parent-Teacher Assn. member Jo Van Amburg thought of her two young children as she stood in front of about 2,000 PTA members in Sacramento and spoke about smaller class sizes. Van Amburg and fellow local PTA members Francis Mignano and Patty Scripter want their parent organization -- the California PTA -- to support giving flexibility to local school districts that participate in the class-size reduction program. The three helped write an emergency resolution to present to the state association during the state PTA convention this week in Sacramento, but submitted the resolution past the deadline.

Glendale Unified School District withdrew six teacher layoff notices Tuesday, made possible by transferring elementary school teachers to vacancies in middle and high schools. The move reduces the number of pink slips from 83 to 77. Another 15 elementary and secondary teachers are likely to see layoff notices rescinded in the next week or two, said John Garcia, assistant superintendent for human resources. “What we’ve done is, we’ve been looking at middle and high school staffing, and we can move those elementary teachers up,” he said.

Gary Moskowitz The school board has adopted Supt. Jim Brown's 2003-04 budget proposal, but now district officials say they're playing a precarious waiting game. Brown says the district needs to determine if layoffs are necessary, decide whether it can afford to keep smaller class sizes in elementary schools and ninth grade, and talk about whether employee benefits need to be capped. The school board will review updated budget considerations submitted by Brown for the 2003-04 school year.

Fanning the flames of flamenco passion Where was the community passion for "Flamenco Passion" on May 8 at The Alex Theatre? Every one of the 150 seats on the stage should have been filled. Mayor Frank Quintero's wife, Jani, co-starred, along with her flamenco partners. A beautiful night was had by all. Congratulations to the Friends of The Alex Board (of which I am a new member) for setting up such a "passion"-ate evening. RUTH SOWBY Glendale Class-size reduction is making a difference I have been a first-grade teacher in Glendale for seven years.