Summer School

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.

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 — The school board this week cleared the way to charge higher fees to for-profit groups that rent district facilities. Nonprofit and civic groups would be exempt from the rates, but for-profit companies that are not youth-centered would see rates increase 50%. Youth organizations would see their rates increase 10%, officials said. The rewritten policy would amend proposals last month for all rates to double. But Glendale Unified school board members said that kind of raise could scare away clients, and told officials to tone down the charges.

Trust. Love. Follow. Care. Share. These are the themes of St. James the Less and Holy Redeemer parishes' Vacation Bible School, which wrapped up its inaugural session on Friday. St. James in La Crescenta and Holy Redeemer in Montrose operate jointly and share ministerial resources, priests and staff. This year marked the first time the two churches have held joint Vacation Bible School. "We get to learn about God and the New and Old Testaments," said Annie Burns, 7, of Tujunga.

A beautiful Baccalaureate service honoring Hoover High School graduates was held at St. Mark's Episcopal Church followed by a candlelight supper at the Verdugo Hills Country Club. Thanks to all those who helped with the evening. The PTSA hosted a successful staff appreciation lunch. A delicious buffet was provided by the PTSA, Purple Circle, Boosters and Korean and Armenian Parents associations. On June 18, the iconic Hoover Hills "H" was changed to a "10" to honor the 2010 graduating class, and wonderful speeches were given by top students including valedictorian Katherine Park.

GLENDALE — Students will have to pay $375 if they choose to take two semesters’ worth of classes during summer school, according to a cost-saving plan school board members unanimously approved Tuesday. The Glendale Unified School District plan comes without any guarantee of financial aid or scholarships for students who want to advance through a subject or who want to fulfill a graduation requirement. Students who want to take one semester’s worth of course work, such as health, would pay $190.

A plan to charge Glendale Unified students who want to take summer school classes up to $350 is a sad commentary on the state of education funding, and the methods district officials feel they must employ to address the problem. Students who need to take the summer classes to graduate would be spared the fees, but that teens who want to get ahead in the public school system would have to pay to do so is a reflection of just how bad things are getting in a district once insulated from the financial woes of its neighbors.

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.