Schools

Glendale Unified Deputy Supt. John Garcia will become the next superintendent of the Downey Unified School District in April - making him the fourth leader of that district in as many decades.  Garcia was selected for the top job from an applicant field of about 30 people, according to Downey Unified school board member Donald LaPlante. LaPlante - who has served on the school board for 34 years - said Garcia's extensive experience as a teacher and administrator made him stand out from other applicants.

So let me see if I have this right. The Glendale Unified School District is charging private companies more to use its facilities ("School board OKs fee hikes for firms," July 31). Which means these companies will then pass along the extra fees to the private sector. Which means fewer people will attend because they can't afford the hike in fees. Which means private companies will book fewer events because the ticket sales are weak. Here's a novel idea: How about dropping the rental price and making a concerted effort to attract more private companies?

GLENDALE — As results from Tuesday's election trickled in, local school and city officials' hopes were high on two counts — that schools might get their money and cities' eminent domain power would remain intact. Proposition 1D, a $10.4-billion bond issue to fund school facilities, appeared poised for passing with 55.83% of voters in favor and 44.17% opposed, with 14.58% of precincts reporting. Proposition 90, which limits government's ability to use eminent domain, poised to lose late Tuesday, 52.99% against and 47.01% in favor, with only a handful of precincts reporting.

Valley View hosting ‘Movie Night’ Valley View Elementary School’s Dine In and Movie Night takes place tonight, Jan. 11, at the school’s lower playground. Families will arrive around 5:30 p.m. to enjoy an evening under the stars eating pre-ordered meals of cheeseburgers, hamburgers, or hot dot dinners while visiting with other Valley View families. At about 6:30 the movie “Ratatouille” will be shown on the school’s big screen handball court.

Leonard and Sherri Buckley's family of seven waited quietly and patiently during the Hoover High School's 77th annual commencement ceremonies Thursday. But when Kiara Buckley's name rang through the loudspeaker, they couldn't contain themselves. The Buckleys ? including Kiara's siblings ? leaped to their feet and cheered for several seconds. "She has worked so hard to achieve so much," said Leonard Buckley, a physician who wore a tie imprinted with a yellow M&M wearing a stethoscope.

A 72-year-old Glendale ice cream vendor who was charged last year with child annoyance and sexual battery was arrested Tuesday after allegedly violating a court order that demanded he stay away from elementary, middle and high schools in Burbank, officials said. The man, Grigor Khachatryan, was arrested after a local parent reported seeing him around Luther Burbank Middle and Bret Harte Elementary schools in his ice cream truck at around 4 p.m., said Burbank Police Sgt. Darin Ryburn.

Crescenta Valley High School came in second place to James Monroe High School during the final round of the Los Angeles County mock trial competition held among 84 high schools. The defeat came after Crescenta Valley High took on the role of the prosecution during a three-hour mock trial Wednesday night at a downtown Los Angeles courthouse. The case: proving who was driving a car that hit a bicyclist. Monroe High is a magnet school in North Hills that specializes in law and government and has garnered media attention before for twice competing in mock trial finals in the past four years.

Two local elementary schools are in the lead pack of candidates for a $50,000 grant that administrators say could go a long way in improving student life and classroom learning. For a chance at winning the grant sponsored by Clorox, the schools must garner enough public votes by way of text messages or online by Dec. 19. In Burbank, parents and educators at Bret Harte Elementary are competing against 400 schools to invest in their arts program. When Bret Harte students produce shows to a standing-room only audience in the 71-year-old auditorium, the sweltering heat can put a cramp on the event, according to Principal Sheari Taylor.

Despite plans by Gov. Jerry Brown to spend roughly $1.6 billion more on education, local school officials this week remained only cautiously optimistic about their financial prospects. The additional funding included in Brown's budget revision unveiled earlier in the week was the result of state revenues that came in $4.5 billion higher than projected for the first six months of the year. But local school district officials say it will take some time to decipher exactly what that will mean for their own beleaguered budgets.

Glendale Unified students and teachers will have next April 24 off in commemoration of the Armenian Genocide, following an agreement signed by school officials and the teachers union this week. Thousands of students of Armenian descent typically skip class on April 24 to participate in commemoration events, but the high truancy rates can decrease the school district's funding, which is tied to attendance. For years, parents, teachers and school officials have been discussing making April 24 a non-work day, and finally next school year the day off will be official.

More than a month after the shooting rampage in Newtown, Conn., mental health professionals stated that psychological disorders often emerge before people enter high school; however, only a small percentage of students ever receives necessary intervention or treatment. This is due to lack of knowledge and failure to recognize symptoms. The mass shootings in recent years have raised a debate about gun control and mental health, including a push by President Barack Obama for stronger gun controls and better mental health training for schools and communities.

Qualifying to Saturday's CIF Southern Section Track and Field Divisional Championships at Mt. San Antonio College required the local entrants who earned such advancement to turn in very good results at last weekend's divisional prelims all over Southern California. This weekend, however, the bar will be raised from very good to exceptional. Of course, that's to be expected as divisional championships and CIF-Southern Section Masters Meet berths are on the line with the trip to Cerritos College available for the top 12 finishers in the 800-meter, 1,600-meter and 3,200-meter runs and top nine in every other event.

A Glendale Unified educator who began teaching in the district 23 years ago will take on a new leadership post in July as assistant superintendent of educational services. Kelly King will take the position that was held by John Garcia, who left Glendale Unified in March to become superintendent of the Downey Unified School District. "There were amazing candidates for this position," King said. "I'm honored and humbled that I was selected. " King began her career as a kindergarten teacher at Balboa Elementary in 1990 before becoming a teacher specialist at Glenoaks and Dunsmore elementary schools.

Clark Magnet High School teacher Dominique Evans-Bye is one of 11 teachers across the country - and the only one in California - to win a coveted environmental award that honors her innovative and hands-on approach to teaching science. An instructor at Clark since 2000, Evans-Bye this week won the Presidential Innovation Award for Environmental Educators for her focus on environmental research and her students' sustainability projects. One of those projects took place last October when she led a group of students up steep hills near Ojai to see camps that used to house illegal marijuana growing operations.

There was hardly any space left for students to park their bikes at R.D. White Elementary Wednesday morning after dozens peddled to school as part of the nationally recognized Bike to School Day. The event came less than a week after 13-year-old Jonathan Hernandez, a student at Roosevelt Middle School, died after he was struck by a school bus while riding his bicycle. Still, the organizers of "Bike to School Day" remained committed to hosting the event to encourage students to ride their bikes to school, reinforce safety tips and promote exercise.

Grief-stricken classmates of a 13-year-old boy who was struck and killed by a school bus on Thursday returned to Roosevelt Middle School Friday, some of them seeking solace at a makeshift memorial that was set up at the collision site. One item left at the memorial was a white bike, known as a ghost bike, placed there by Danny Gamboa of Long Beach, who regularly leaves ghost bikes at sites where bicyclists have either been injured or killed in crashes in the L.A. area. The Los Angeles County coroner on Friday identified the boy as Jonathan Hernandez, who died shortly after being struck by, and trapped underneath, a school bus Thursday afternoon at the intersection of Columbus Avenue and Riverdale Drive.

This post has been corrected. See below for details.  A 13-year-old boy died Thursday after he was struck by, and then trapped underneath, a school bus, police said. Numerous 911 calls about the incident at the intersection of Columbus Avenue and Riverdale Drive started coming in shortly after 2 p.m., Sgt. Tom Lorenz said. [Updated 7:05 p.m.: The boy whose identity is still not released attended Roosevelt Middle School. In preliminary interviews, witnesses said the boy was traveling at a high rate of speed, heading westbound in an eastbound lane.

Billionaire Richard Branson may have been celebrating the next step in his quest to make commercial space flights viable this week, but students at Clark Magnet High School also have been busy at work analyzing their own near-space flight. The students launched a high-altitude balloon that reached 85,000 feet over the Angeles National Forest Sunday to collect photos and video from near-space. "Launching a high-altitude balloon is about 99% the same as going to space, and it's as close as you can get without a very expensive, massive rocket," said Clark teacher David Black, who oversaw the launch.