After 2 months of classes, enrollment for Arcadia schools is down 400 from last year at this time. The only enrollment increase has been in grades 4-6.
Enrollment for 1975 is down about 1200 children for local schools in the San Gabriel Valley. Though stragglers will bring this figure down, school districts are wary.
Crime statistics for the first half of 1979 show a 4.6% overall increase in crime in Arcadia, despite a decrease in the number of violent crimes. This compares to an overall increase of 5.2% for the larger San Gabriel area.
Both the teachers and the Arcadia Board of Education ratified an existing contract, with some changes agreed upon by all involved. Salaries were excluded from discussion due to Prop. 13. The contract extends through June 30, 1980.
Parents with children in the EMR (Educable Mentally Retarded) program in the Arcadia schools have written letters to the state, county and local school officials outlining the difficulties EMR teachers are having controlling their students without help from aides (lost due to Prop. 13).
Howard Jarvis, the father of Proposition 13, spent an hour in Arcadia, knocking down the "straw man" arguments he said were being put up against the property tax initiative. Prop. 13 would reduce property taxes in California to 1 percent of what market value was in 1975-1976, plus whatever is necessary to pay off current bonded indebtedness. A 2 percent annual inflation rate is written into the constitutional amendment.
There will be summer school this year, for a price. Classes will be arranged through the Arcadia Department of Recreation and the University of La Verne.
The School Board has passed and adopted a new teachers salary schedule for 1975-76. The teachers unions have not yet ratified the agreement. Salaries range from $9553 for a first year teacher to $19,918 for a teacher with extra college credits, including an MA.
The California Teachers Association has filed charges with the Public Employees Relations Board against 16 area schools including Monrovia, Arcadia and Duarte. The charges relate to actions taken as a result of Proposition 13.
A small group of teachers, dissatisfied with an 8.5% salary increase, may go on strike. Both the Arcadia Teachers Association and the American Federation of Teachers local have disavowed the action.
The Arcadia Board of Education made firm its plans for the Junior High pupils. First Avenue 8th and 9th graders will attend classes on their own campus, while incoming 7th graders will be divided between Dana and Foothills junior high schools.
The following have been elected to the City Council for 4 year terms: Charles Gilb, Jack Saelid, Floretta Lauber (first woman to be on the Council). Complete election results.
Thirty-two first year teachers and various administrators have received notices that they may not be rehired. If a revenue increase fails in the April 1975 election, Arcadia will be $1 million short.
District-wide test scores show Arcadia remains high in test results, though some Board of Education members are concerned about a drop in spelling scores for the 6th and 12th grades.
A hearing was held re the Arcadia Unified School District definition of segregation. The Board's criterion is that a school is segregated only when one minority group exceeds 50% of that school's enrollment.
The California Teachers Association has advised the Arcadia Teachers Association to reopen negotiations on salaries for the current year. The 3-year Arcadia contract has no provision for increases in local teachers' salaries.