Summer School

The Glendale Community College trustees on Friday voted unanimously to ratify an agreement that will enable the campus to offer 200 classes during the six-week summer session. Summer school starts on June 20, with early registration kicking off Monday. College officials and faculty union representatives negotiated on and off for weeks in an effort to maximize the number of summer school classes offered despite multimillion-dollar budget cuts. Without faculty concessions, the school would have offered no more than 100 summer school classes, officials said.

Burbank and Glendale schools will again offer only scaled back summer school programs as officials continue to address reduced state funding. The pared-down programs mean free access will be granted only to students who need summer credits to graduate. All other students will be charged a fee, and even then, the number of available classes will be reduced. Burbank Unified plans to provide free credit recovery classes for high school students only, said Jennifer Meglemre, accountability and program improvement coordinator with the district’s instructional services office.

GLENDALE — Students who want to take summer school will have to pay up to $350, according to a new plan being considered by the Glendale Unified School District Board of Education. Students who have failed classes and need credits to graduate will not have to pay any fees, officials said. “We knew last year we were going to have to alter something because we could not continue operating in the same fashion without going bankrupt three years from now,” said Kathy Thorossian, assistant superintendent for educational services.

GLENDALE — Changes that would eliminate summer school altogether, or require a fee to enroll in courses, were tabled during a Glendale Unified School District Board of Education meeting Tuesday night. The district stands to lose $2.15 million by maintaining the same summer program offered last year, and could increase class sizes for kindergarten through third grade to offset a project $7-million deficit in 2011-12, officials said. Under some of the summer school proposals, students who want to take geometry in the summer to be eligible for Algebra II in the fall, or students who take biology to advance to the next science level would be required to pay a fee. The fees proposal could also extend to students who need credit to graduate and require remediation courses.

Alecia Foster NORTHEAST GLENDALE -- By the looks of some of the district's busy high school campuses, one might never guess it was summertime. That's because summer school enrollment has swelled this year -- bringing some campuses close to regular school year enrollment levels. "This place looks like it's the middle of November," Jerry Watson, assistant principal of Glendale High, said of the busy campus. This summer there are 6,363 high school students enrolled in summer school, compared to 5,950 students in 2000.

Gary Moskowitz Several hundred fewer middle and high school students will be in summer classes next month, district officials said Wednesday. Because of state cutbacks to summer school budgets, class offerings in Glendale Unified schools -- primarily at the middle school level -- will be much more focused on remedial coursework instead of enrichment, said Joel Shapiro, the district's director of curriculum and instruction. Remedial coursework would include classes students failed or ones in which they need to keep up with grade-level standards, Shapiro said.

Hoover High School Summer school at Hoover is in full swing. The first semester is complete and second semester is underway. After a brief August break, the 2011-2012 school year begins Monday, Aug. 29. Program Distribution for all students will be Monday, Aug. 22 through Wednesday, Aug. 24. Program Distribution information is available on the Hoover website, by grade, at hooverhs.org. There is also a reminder that all students entering grades 7 through 12 will be required to show proof of a Tdap booster shot before starting school in the Fall of 2011.

It really is not too soon to begin planning for the start of the upcoming school year by marking Monday, Aug. 29 on calendars as the first day of classes. Glendale Unified School District has a three-year calendar available for viewing at its website, www.gusd.net, in order to provide parents, families, community and staff the ability to plan vacations and other events around school schedules. But despite the first day looming early this year, there’s still plenty of time to enjoy the summer months with some suggestions from Wilson Middle School Principal Richard Lucas.

Seniors at Crescenta Valley High School graduated Thursday, and many of them spent the rest of the evening and into the wee hours of the morning celebrating at Grad Night at Magic Mountain. The seniors participated in many end-of-year activities, which were planned by class officers, Hannah Park, president; Geena Wheeler, vice president; Jordan Eberhart, secretary; Irene Park, treasurer; and Celeste Lau-Chwierut, class advisor. A big thank you goes to these individuals for their hard work and dedication to making senior year memorable.

Summer break provides a respite from coursework and testing, but for some school-age children it can also mean more than two months without a nutritious meal. During the recent school year, Burbank and Glendale schools provided free and reduced-price meals to 5,065 students and 12,000 students, respectively — or 33% and 46% of total enrollment at each of the districts. Federal programs allow districts to continue nutritional support during summer school. But for the second consecutive year, Glendale and Burbank schools are enrolling significantly fewer students during the summer session, a result of state budget cuts, officials say. City-specific data on the drop-off rates during summer break were not available, but school officials acknowledged that food instability for their low-income families is a concern come June.

Glendale Community College officials last week may have been able to extract deep pay concessions from instructors in order to preserve a scaled-back summer session, but some faculty union members reacted to the outcome with indignation, with one calling the process a “big sham.” The college Board of Trustees on Friday unanimously ratified an agreement with faculty members that cut pay by 40% to salvage the summer school session. The deal also included an agreement to credit the $500,000 saved by the pay cut toward any budget reductions to be absorbed by adjunct instructors next fiscal year.

The Glendale Community College trustees on Friday voted unanimously to ratify an agreement that will enable the campus to offer 200 classes during the six-week summer session. Summer school starts on June 20, with early registration kicking off Monday. College officials and faculty union representatives negotiated on and off for weeks in an effort to maximize the number of summer school classes offered despite multimillion-dollar budget cuts. Without faculty concessions, the school would have offered no more than 100 summer school classes, officials said.

Glendale Community College officials announced Wednesday that they had reached a modified deal with the faculty union that would set the number of classes to be offered during the summer session at 200 — a 70-class reduction as compared to last year but double what might otherwise have been available. The deal, struck during emergency negotiations this week, includes previously agreed upon faculty salary concessions of 40%, saving the college about $500,000 — which would be credited toward any pay reductions that may have to be borne by adjunct instructors next fiscal year, officials said.

The number of Glendale Community College summer school classes to be offered, and the salaries paid to the faculty who teach them, was thrown into doubt this week after the Board of Trustees put off voting on an agreement. College officials and faculty union representatives Tuesday initiated emergency negotiations to rework the provisions of the deal struck on April 22 that would allow them to proceed with summer school, despite a projected budget reduction of $6.7 million to $10.7 million in the coming fiscal year.

Glendale Community College officials on Friday announced that they would carry on with summer school despite state funding cuts after faculty members agreed to work the six-week session for 40% less pay. But the number of classes to be offered during the summer session will also be cut by 40% compared with last year, said Ron Nakasone, vice president of administrative services. The combination of pay cuts and fewer classes will save the cash-strapped college about $1 million, he said.

The Glendale Educational Foundation is offering summer school for middle and high school students. Classes for advancement/enrichment are offered at each of the secondary schools, except Clark Magnet, for a fee of $375 for 10 units and $190 for five units. Reduced rates for students on free and reduced meals are available. Summer school is four days a week from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. from June 20 to July 28. Information is available at each middle school and high school in the district. Glendale Community College, in partnership with Glendale Unified School District, is offering its Summer Enrichment Program for elementary-aged students at Fremont Elementary School June 27 through July 22. Tuition is $395 per child and $350 for each additional sibling.