Monrovia Unified School District

The Monrovia Unified School District Board of Education has voted to hold some meetings at school sites rather than at district headquarters to acquaint board members with school staff members and facilities and to encourage parents and students to attend meetings. The board, which meets the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month, will hold its last meeting each month at a school. The first meeting at a school will be Jan. 22 at Clifton Middle School, 226 S. Ivy St.

The Monrovia Community Services Division and the Monrovia Unified School District are sponsoring a Cinco de Mayo poster contest for children in the first through fifth grades. Entries, based on the theme "How I Celebrate Cinco de Mayo," will be judged on effective use of color and expression of the theme. Posters must not be larger than 22 by 28 inches, and must have the participant's name, school, grade and home phone number on the back. The deadline for entries is 5 p.m.

A 15-year plan to open a second fire station in the south end of the city may finally be realized next year, City Manager Rod Gould said. The City Council voted Tuesday to set aside $200,000 in surplus federal money for the project. An additional $1 million from the sale of city property has already been earmarked for the station.

City meetings, including City Council and Planning Commission meetings, will be held in the board room of the Monrovia Unified School District for the next month and a half while the City Hall Council Chamber is remodeled. The $114,000 remodeling project will include new carpeting, drapes, seating and a redesigned dais for the council members. The council Tuesday also approved a $66,525 plan to upgrade audiovisual equipment for the council meetings, which are broadcast on KGEM cable television.

Due to renovation of the council chambers in City Hall, meetings will be relocated starting Monday. Council and Planning Commission meetings will be at the Monrovia Unified School District's administration offices, 325 E. Huntington Drive. Development review and traffic safety committees will meet in the south room of the Monrovia Community Center, 119 W. Palm Ave. The meetings, usually seen live, will be shown on cable television one hour later.

Enrollment of eligible residents for the job-training and job-placement programs sponsored by the Foothill Private Industry Council will be operated by the state Employment Development Department Job Service office, 1207 E. Green St., Pasadena, beginning Tuesday. Additional services, including enrollment, skill assessment, counseling and job assignment will continue at 325 S. Oak Knoll Ave., Pasadena, and at 1831 Santa Fe Place, Monrovia.

Ten tons of oil-contaminated earth and four tanks of fuel and oil were removed last month from the Monrovia High School campus and the neighboring school district maintenance yard. The project was prompted by state laws that require agencies holding hazardous substances in underground storage tanks to meet tighter monitoring standards, said Nitra Hall, assistant superintendent of business services for the Monrovia Unified School District.

The Monrovia Unified School District Board of Education and the Monrovia Teachers Assn. have approved a contract providing a 10.7% salary increase retroactive to Sept. 1, when the previous contract expired. The contract also provides for a longevity bonus of $500 per year for teachers who have completed 20 or more years of service with the district and gives teachers a say in how some of the district's revenues from the state lottery will be spent.

School officials have accepted the city's offer of $800,000 for a $1-million sports complex at Monrovia High School. Board members of the Monrovia Unified School District, initially hesitant when the offer was made in October because of uncertainties over raising the remaining $200,000, have approved the project. The city will raise the money by selling an old city-owned baseball complex on Wayland Way. The district will raise its share from developers' fees designated for school construction.

Six San Gabriel Valley companies and two individuals are to be honored today at the Foothill Private Industry Council's employer awards luncheon at the Pasadena Hilton hotel. The council disburses $2.7 million annually in federal money for job training and placement of 1,000 residents living in Arcadia, Duarte, Monrovia, Pasadena, Sierra Madre and South Pasadena.