Teachers

I think Glenoaks Elementary School is doing a really good job with kids. In the kindergarten program, Ms. Newman's class in particular, kids are really encouraged to read. Some kids have read an amazing number of books since last September. And I'm happy to see my kid, who is in that program, read books fluently. I think they're doing a marvelous job and should be acknowledged for that. Bijan Rahbari Glendale    

Teacher Suzanne Savage had assembled her three-part overhead projector and plugged in the necessary cords, parts and accessories. To her right, she projected a blue screen along a wall of the library at La Crescenta Elementary School, where she works. She began to project lesson plans, instruction manuals and messed around with the zoom and auto-focus feature on her new ELMO image mate, an elaborate overhead projector for classroom instruction. And then, anticipating student reaction, she began to wave her hands in front of the device's camera lens.

Dear Mr. New (“Don't take from us to pay for them,” May 26): Did you have a public education? Did you have a teacher that you remember as having contributed to your intellectual growth or enlightened you in any way? Did your children, or do you know anyone with children, who attend public schools? Do you agree that public education is essential to an informed electorate and contributes to a civilized society and strong economy? Teachers (and other “government employees” who provide essential services)

Palm Crest Elementary School's 30 teachers were cruising on the "sea of eternal summers" on Friday when a storm blew in and their ship started to sink. As their ship started to sink, they had to decide what items they could take onto a lifeboat to survive. It seemed like a desperate situation until they learned how to come together to save themselves. Teachers were participating in a team-building exercise organized by their new principal, Anais Wenn. "Our goal is not just to survive but to thrive," Wenn kept telling her all-female faculty.

NORTHWEST GLENDALE - Hometown heroics trumped star power on Friday night in the fourth-annual Stars Shooting for Hope celebrity basketball game, which filled the bleachers of the Hoover High gymnasium for a charitable cause, while once again putting on an exciting hoops exhibition between local teachers and administrators and celebrities from the worlds of Hollywood and sports. Proceeds from admission, raffles and a silent auction raised $3,000, the most in the history of the event, for the Desi Geestman Foundation, which provides direct services to childhood cancer patients.

Glendale parents and teachers rallied Wednesday afternoon in Verdugo Park to support Proposition 38, which promises billions of dollars for early education and K-12 schools. Campaign organizers say Glendale schools could gain $25 million in 2013-14 if the initiative passes. The November tax initiative - sponsored by civil rights attorney Molly Munger - would be paid for with increased income taxes. Critics who oppose Prop. 38 complain that it would not provide funds to cash-strapped community colleges.

As a member of the teaching profession going on 24 years, a recurring theme threads through all the meetings and staff development sessions I've attended. Everybody wants teachers to work harder. The government, the school district, the administrators, the parents. Probably the only group who doesn't cry out for more from teachers are the students. Yet few of these folks who expect more feel the need to balance such talk with incentives.  Teachers know that in order to get students to do work, kids need to be motivated either via grades or making them see the relevance of their task.

Gov. Brown signed a bill last Thursday that requires California schools to use history textbooks and lessons that mention positive contributions from the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. No other state has such a requirement. While I have no problem including in a history textbook anybody who is important in human history, I do have a problem when it is mandated by elected officials just because it is politically expedient to do so. No other group of highly educated professionals has so much of their work environment controlled as do teachers.

Claudia Peschiutta GLENDALE -- This time, teachers weren't the only ones providing lessons. Students at Glendale High School on Wednesday expressed their views on life in a free society before a group of teachers visiting from Armenia, which declared its independence from the former Soviet Union less than 10 years ago. Freedom is "the ability to make your own choices, without the fear of persecution or...

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.

I think Glenoaks Elementary School is doing a really good job with kids. In the kindergarten program, Ms. Newman's class in particular, kids are really encouraged to read. Some kids have read an amazing number of books since last September. And I'm happy to see my kid, who is in that program, read books fluently. I think they're doing a marvelous job and should be acknowledged for that. Bijan Rahbari Glendale    

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.

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.

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's got to be something in the air. In recent weeks, I've gotten not one but two e-mails from readers about the word “got” and its cousin “gotten.” “I will never forget several teachers telling me that using 'got' in any sentence anytime was simply being lazy,” wrote John in Pasadena, “that it was bad English, uncouth, uneducated, etc.” We could probably write this off as a fluke, perhaps guessing that John went to a...

A teacher who taught vocal music lessons at Glendale Adventist Academy was sentenced Wednesday to a year in county jail for allegedly engaging in lewd acts with a male high school student, officials said. Valerie Jane Gonzales, 29, of El Monte, was also ordered to serve five years of formal probation and must register as a sex offender for life, according to Jane Robison, spokeswoman of the Los Angeles County district attorney's office. Gonzales must also complete a year of sex abuse counseling.

A new condominium development three blocks from the Americana at Brand that languished for years is now selling units at a discount for "Hometown Heroes," including veterans, teachers, first responders, doctors and nurses. Eligible home buyers get 1% off the net sales price of the 26 urban-style condos in the Residences at Jackson Glen. With two-bedroom units running at $429,000, that would be a savings of $4,290. “That's quite a bit of cash,” said Mary Jean Duran, spokeswoman for the development, adding that the condominiums in the three-story building start at $399,900.

Enough Glendale Unified employees have committed to an early retirement option to stave off the need to issue pink slips later this year, district officials announced this week. The threat of layoff notices for up to 125 employees had loomed large as Glendale Unified worked to cut spending by about $6 million in an effort to tackle the district's $15 structural deficit. But on Tuesday, the school board approved the 115 employees who applied for the district's early retirement plan.

Jane Hancock and her family moved to a house on Edmonton Road in 1961. “I fell in love with the house and the neighborhood the moment I saw it.” The weekend after they moved in, their neighbors invited them to a party and there she met Jean Armstrong. Hancock and Armstrong became friends; their children grew up together and went to the same schools. Hancock knew that Armstrong had a mysterious scar but never knew of her adventurous past. That is, until recently. Hancock and her husband Fred raised five boys and taught English and social studies, journalism and media at Toll Junior High from 1962 until 1992.

Sixty-one Glendale Unified teachers have accepted the district's early retirement plan, a figure that could prevent teacher layoffs later this year, officials said. District officials had hoped at least 75 teachers would take the offer, but just 61 certificated employees accepted it by the Feb. 1 deadline. Glendale Unified officials had previously said that 75 to 125 employees could be let go in an effort to save about $6 million. But with 14 teachers short of the initial goal, plans to lay off teachers remain uncertain.