Jason Bingham, a 16-year-old Arcadia High School student, is facing expulsion after he used a pipe as a weapon during an on-campus fight with a fellow student.
The Los Angeles County Commission on School District Organization voted 9-0 to deny Sierra Madre's petition to join the Arcadia School District. The matter will go to the state Board of Education, which may take 3-4 months to make a decision.
Jason Koh, 13, a student at First Avenue Junior High School, was named Los Angeles Theater Organ Society Organist of the Year for his performance at the Sexson Auditorium at Pasadena City College.
The Arcadia Unified School District is taking a "zero tolerance" position against violence and drugs in the schools. Anyone caught assaulting another student, bringing a weapon to school, or using or selling drugs on campus will be expelled.
The family of Kelly Salomone, a 21 year old University of La Verne student who was killed when a car driven by Gary Southworth, 45, slammed into her vehicle on December 12, has started a letter writing campaign urging people to pressure the state into taking away his teaching credential. School Board members defended their decision to allow Southworth to return to the Arcadia Unified School District.
The School Board suspended all school bus fees for students in the district and discontinued the home-to-school transportation service for the majority of students to make up for the lost revenue.
A civil lawsuit involving Arcadia Mayor Donald Pellegrino has been delayed until July 16 to give the defendant's new attorney time to familiarize himself with the case.
After three tries, the Arcadia City Council agreed to appoint Peter Ulrich, an Arcadia Beautiful Commissioner and a real estate consultant, as the newest member of the panel.
Negotiating teams for the Arcadia Teachers Association and the Board of Education have declared an impasse. Letters will be sent to the Public Employees Relations Board which may appoint a mediator. If the mediator is unable to resolve the differences, a fact finding panel may be selected.
Police have arrested a 16 year old Arcadia High School student on suspicion of firing a gun Monday afternoon at two teenagers involved in an on-campus brawl several hours earlier.
Despite the protests of relatives and friends of the victims, 21 year old Arcadian Jim Bates will face only misdemeanor charges for the freeway deaths of two people. Bates drove across three traffic lanes in an attempt to make the Baldwin Avenue offramp of the Foothill Freeway. The accident happened on April 16, 1982.
23 "heroes and heroines" in the Arcadia Unified School District were honored by the Board of Education in the first "Profiles in Excellence" awards. The awards were presented to "individuals who maintain a standard of excellence in their work and who represent those values and qualities which make Arcadia a special place for students." Names and positions of winners are given.
The Board of Education has completed the hearings for 22 of the 23 students arrested and charged with the sale of drugs. Fourteen were expelled, four of them outright. Ten will have the record of the expulsion removed if they meet certain conditions.
A proposal by School Board member Pete May would delay the closing of any elementary school for at least a year. May proposed the district sell two residential parcels which should bring in around $250,000.
Members of the school district Long Range Space Utilization Task Force have been visiting all the elementary schools in the district to gain an overview of all the facilities before they recommend which should be closed.