Schools

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.

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.

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.

GLENDALE — Several Glendale Unified School District teachers and administrators stepped out of their own schools Wednesday morning to see what was happening in classrooms elsewhere in the district. The “instructional practices” tours of Rosemont Middle School, Lincoln Elementary School and Glenoaks Elementary School were organized as part of Focus on Results, a school improvement initiative that was expanded to every school in the district this fall. “The greatest way to learn, for teachers, is to see other teachers teach,” said Mike Seaton, director of instructional support services for the school district.

Robert Chacon La Canada Unified School District has met the state requirements for improvement on annual exams that test students' performance on core subjects. District-wide, test scores grew by 5%. Two schools -- La Canada High School and Paradise Canyon Elementary -- did not show growth, but La Canada students' test scores on the Academic Performance Index already exceed the 800-point target set by the state, and continued improvement is difficult, district officials said.

Darleene Barrientos All the details -- like floors, walls, stairwells -- will be under scrutiny at Glendale and Hoover high schools, as district officials get ready to begin more than $20 million in Measure K renovations for each campus. A study session examining the initial planning, scope of work and costs of the construction at each high school campus will dominate the Glendale Unified School District's Board of Education meeting at 4 p.m. today at the district's headquarters, at 223 N. Jackson St. The meeting is open to the public.

The sophomore class sold caramel apples, the National Honor Society offered chocolate-covered strawberries, and the senior class tempted passersby with trips through an inflatable-house-sized obstacle course. It was Saturday’s Hoover Street Scene, a carnival-like community party to raise money for the student clubs and organizations at Hoover High School. During the late afternoon and into the evening, the school’s upper quad was filled with game booths, food stands and a makeshift performance space for student entertainers.

Glendale and Burbank school districts are facing structural deficits of $19.5 million and $6 million, respectively, in 2012-13 officials said this week, even if California voters pass a November tax initiative meant to bolster state coffers. The district projections came on the heels of Gov. Jerry Brown's May revision to the state budget, which now includes a $16-billion deficit. The governor's plan to balance the budget depends in part on a tax initiative that will go before voters in November and is expected to generate more than $6 billion in revenue.

A Glendale High School student who was arrested this week after he allegedly grabbed a 42-year-old woman's crotch told police he was accused of the same crime at another school campus, according to police. The student, Ryan Navarrete, 18, of Los Angeles was arrested Monday on suspicion of sexual battery after he allegedly assaulted the Santa Clarita woman as she walked on Brand Boulevard in downtown Glendale. Navarrete denied grabbing the woman, but told officers he was accused of “doing the same thing at Crescenta Valley High School and has had to transfer to Glendale High due to the allegations,” according to police reports.

Glendale school board member Greg Krikorian, who is challenging Mike Gatto for the 43rd Assembly District seat in November, ramped up his campaign at a recent anti-genocide rally by appealing to the Armenian American vote with a fiery speech that has since been posted online. In his address to the crowd, Krikorian spoke in terms that appeared to limit his appeal to Armenian voters - a strategy used many times by candidates before him with limited success - by saying it was time to elect someone who “speaks for us” and that “one of our own represents our community.” In his speech outside Glendale Community College, which was posted on YouTube , Krikorian also pledges “to be the voice of American Armenians and to be the voice of Glendale - to be in touch with you.” Krikorian said he tailored his comments - which at times became excited and touched on the international geo-political trials of Armenia - for his audience at the candlelight vigil commemorating the Armenian genocide of 1915.

The recent decision to expunge jazz from Doug McIntyre's morning show on KABC radio - in a purported move to enlarge the show's audience - has stirred passions around the Southland. Playboy Jazz Festival publicist Nina Gordon is surprised by the move. “It's ironic that they did that so close to International Jazz Day,” she says, “where the world honors jazz. It's tremendously popular all over the world, and very popular in L.A. “There's a bigger taste for jazz here than most people realize,” she continues.

The parade of two-wheelers snaking toward R.D. White Elementary School could have stocked a bicycle shop. There were mountain bikes, road bikes and beach cruisers with white-wall tires. Helmeted heads bobbed up and down to the rhythm of the pedals. It was a scene playing out at schools across the country Wednesday as thousands of students flicked up their kickstands and took to the streets for the first national Bike to School event. Sponsored by the National Center for Safe Routes to School, the ride was modeled after its International Walk to School Day - initiatives that are designed to foster pedestrian safety and healthy lifestyles.

The parade of two-wheelers snaking toward R.D. White Elementary School could have stocked a bicycle shop. There were mountain bikes, road bikes and beach cruisers with whitewall tires. Helmeted heads bobbed up and down to the rhythm of the pedals. It was a scene playing out at schools across the country Wednesday as thousands of students flicked up their kickstands and took to the streets for the first national Bike to School event. Sponsored by the National Center for Safe Routes to School, the ride was modeled after its International Walk to School Day, designed to foster pedestrian safety and healthy lifestyles.

Toll Middle School was briefly locked down this morning after a student reported seeing a man with a gun on campus who turned out to be an armored vehicle driver on routine business, officials said. The student was walking through the campus when he spotted the man and immediately alerted school officials, who locked down the campus about 9:55 a.m., said Steven Frasher, spokesman for the Glendale Unified School District. The lockdown was lifted about 10:10 a.m. after police discovered the man's identity.

Truth be told, the broken, faded sign had kept me away for years. But my husband and I love novelty almost as much as we love our Saturday morning breakfasts together, so despite the B rating card in the window, we ventured into Jeremy's Restaurant. Am I glad we did. It's “our” spot now. It's not because of the food, though the food is unfailingly good. It's not even the decor, though the decor is shabbily charming. It's the whole package, really, including the curmudgeonly signs on the walls, the funny waitresses, the weathered faces all around talking about power sanders and long car trips, and the endless cups of diner-style coffee.

Community leaders, already working to improve local bicycle infrastructure, are targeting some of the city's youngest riders. The Glendale PTA Council and Walk Bike Glendale have teamed up to provide bicycle skills classes for local school-aged children, with the first taking place Saturday at Fremont Elementary School. The free classes will start at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m., and will included helmet fittings and bicycle checks. The classes were scheduled in anticipation of the first Bike to School Day, which will take place Wednesday.

A private Armenian school that has been fighting to operate for nearly two years is seeking up to $6 million in damages from the city that it claims it suffered as a result of being temporarily shut down. Scholars Academic Foundation claims in its lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court that the city violated its rights to due process and caused economic harm when officials closed the school by “yellow-tagging” the building in February 2010. The school is seeking $2.75 million to $6 million in damages, according to court documents.