John Muir

Burbank Unified School District principals returned to work on Monday to get ready for the new school year, which begins Sept. 1. Among them were Anita Schackmann, the new principal at Luther Middle School, and Heather Haug, the new assistant principal of discipline at Burbank High School. "I'm kind of old, but new," said Haug, who previously taught science to Burroughs High School students. "The district is familiar with me, I've worked with a lot of people, but Burbank High School is brand new. Meeting the staff and the new students will be the best part of the job."

John Muir The planning commissioners have made the politically correct decision to blame the shop owners rather than condemn the residents who blatantly disregard the law and frustrate their neighbors in what is essentially a series of criminal acts ("Plans call for tougher cart law," Tuesday). A more reasonable approach would be a cooperative effort between the merchants and the city of Glendale to enforce existing codes that prohibit removal of shopping carts from store premises.

JOYCE RUDOLPH Holly Cleeland stirs up a lot of imagination -- with Styrofoam coffee cups, no less! The artist has been dabbling with creativity to wide acclaim since she started designing yearbook covers while attending John Muir Junior High School (now a middle school) and Burbank High School. Her first how-to book, "Glue & Go Costumes for Kids," was published in several languages and released around the world May 28. It offers ideas for creating prize-winning costumes for Halloween parties, she said, made by recycling materials around the house.

Gary Moskowitz It's been a year of hope and pride for fifth-graders at John Muir Elementary School. Students all year have written poems, completed artwork and had discussions about the themes of freedom and justice. Student poems and artwork were glued to large pieces of black construction paper and made into 40-foot "twin towers" that hang in the temporary front entrance of the school. The school is undergoing a $6-million renovation project and its front entrance is not accessible this semester.

Deborah Greene Nguyen, a 1994 graduate of Crescenta Valley High School, received her doctorate in pharmacology from the School of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Her research in the field of HIV reproduction has been published in the European Journal of Immunology. She earned her bachelor's degree in biochemistry from Cal State L.A. Deborah was married to Dzung H. Nguyen of Pennsylvania, who also received his doctorate in pharmacology, in April 2001 at the Church of the Lighted Window in La Canada-Flintridge.

Gary Moskowitz By the end of the school day Thursday, Pateel Ayvazian claimed she could draw a perfect helicopter with her eyes closed. Pateel and about 100 other sixth-grade students at John Muir Elementary School spent the day with six professional animators and storyboard artists from AnimAction, a Hollywood-based education animation company. Their goal was to work together to create a 30-second animated public-service announcement about the importance of literacy.

Gary Moskowitz With her son, Andy, in school for most of the day while she is at work, Sandy Tal is more comfortable knowing exactly how her son is spending his time. Tal was one of about 100 parents who showed up at John Muir Elementary School on Friday morning for Education in Action. In the program, teachers invite parents to come into the classrooms and participate in math and science lessons so they see how their child responds to teachers and teacher aids, how they interact with other students and how well they are grasping subject matter.

Gary Moskowitz There are about five or six Glendale children who regularly come by Fire Station 27 on their bikes to hang out with Capt. Carlos Guerrero and other firefighters at the station. Guerrero is hopeful that, by making a personal connection to any one of those children, they will understand local firefighters and police officers are there to help them. "When they grow up, I just hope they remember that we were friends and that might positively affect how they deal with the community later, as adults," Guerrero said.

Gary Moskowitz SOUTHEAST GLENDALE -- Matt Birtle, a fourth-grade teacher at John Muir Elementary School, knows that something as simple as cornmeal can teach students about history. At Muir's annual open house Thursday, Birtle and 29 of his students demonstrated for parents what native Americans would have eaten at early California missions of the late 1700s. Parents were served o7 atolef7 , a cornmeal soup, and o7 pozolef7 , a vegetable stew, at Thursday's open house.

Amber Willard SOUTHEAST GLENDALE -- It's starting to look like Christmas around the Wagner home, especially outside where they spent an afternoon stretching lights over two big bushes and the front porch overhang. "Now string that up at the end of the bush," Robert Wagner directed his 10-year-old son, Nick, who was perched at the top of an aluminum ladder in the frontyard of their hillside home. Together with wife and mother Joylene, the three got the job done.