Glendale Ca Schools

More California high school students are signing up for harder courses, including those required for college admission and advanced placement, state school Supt. Bill Honig said Monday in releasing his annual "report cards" for high schools. "We're seeing these increases all over the state--in urban districts, in rural districts and in suburban districts," Honig said.

Thirty years have passed since Linda Evans whiled away hot afternoons in the windowless cellblock of classrooms that her son at Crescenta Valley High School today calls the "bunker" building. Evans, 46, now the dean of students, wants it leveled. Heartened that Burbank and Los Angeles voters approved school bond measures last month, she and other Glendale school supporters are exhorting residents to pass a $186-million bond measure on June 3 to help renovate facilities that date from the 1920s.

The school board Tuesday rejected a proposed rule that would have required high school students to get parental permission to join campus clubs, which gay and lesbian students charged was designed to prevent them from establishing Hoover High School's first official homosexual club.

For third-grader Andrew Kim, wearing his new school uniform--navy blue trousers and a white polo shirt--makes life just a little easier. "Now, I don't need to think about what I'm going to wear and I don't have to look all around for my clothes," he said. "Wearing the uniform makes me feel special, too." On Monday, Mark Keppel Elementary School became the third school in Glendale and the latest Southland elementary campus to try on voluntary, parochial-style uniforms for size.

Forget PTA bake sales. A parents committee at Mark Keppel Elementary School in Glendale has taken school fund-raising to the corporate level. The group, called Make Keppel Special, acts as a foundation for the school and accepts grant applications for educational projects from teachers and administrators. The group's latest endeavor is an elaborate playground on campus, complete with a rubber mat floor to prevent accidents.

Despite pleas from students and residents calling it a valuable asset, the Glendale Community College trustees voted Wednesday night to sell the college's satellite campus in Montrose to an Armenian parochial school for $2.1 million. The 3.1-acre campus at 2361 Florencita Ave., a former elementary school, is home to dozens of college credit and adult non-credit classes and seminars, including all classes in the nursing education program.

Second-grader Jasper Kim danced around a foot-deep saltwater tank filled with purple, black and red creatures chanting, "Will it bite me? Will it bite me?" Jasper, 8, was one of 600 Verdugo Woodlands Elementary School students who discovered how it feels to pet and hold starfish, baby sharks, velvety-black sea slugs, hermit crabs, purple urchins and anemones.

Police said Monday that a homemade bomb found hanging on a doorknob outside a classroom at Dunsmore Elementary School was a "very small device" with little power, probably not the work of a sophisticated criminal. If it had been triggered accidentally, "there would not have been a major explosion," said Sgt. Rick Young of the Glendale Police Department.

For third-grader Andrew Kim, wearing his new school uniform--navy blue trousers and a white pullover shirt--makes life just a little easier. "Now I don't need to think about what I'm going to wear and I don't have to look all around for my clothes," he said. "Wearing the uniform makes me feel special, too." On Monday, Mark Keppel Elementary School became the third school in Glendale and the latest Southland elementary campus to try on voluntary parochial-style uniforms for size.

Board members of the Glendale Unified School District have appointed a new principal for Cerritos Elementary School, officials said. Kimberly Bishop, who joined the district in 1989, will replace Sheridan Richards effective Jan. 3, said spokesman Vic Pallos. Richards recently moved to Connecticut. Before coming to Glendale, Bishop worked in the Los Angeles Unified School District for 13 years. Her positions included teacher, bilingual education coordinator and assistant principal.