"Mother Road"-clear road ahead to make Route 66 a historic trail. A bill that passed the House of Representatives by unanimous vote June 5, could make Route 66 a National Historic Trail, meaning the 2400 mile road that passes through 8 states, could get federal dollars for preservation, promotion and rehabilitation. Part of the road runs through Arcadia.
Arcadia Unified School District upgraded and improved four campuses over summer break, costing nearly $10 million. Funded under the district's $218 million Measure I Bond, the four schools that got updated classrooms and facilities are Arcadia High School, Camino Grove Elementary, Hugo Reid Elementary, and Highland Oaks Elementary schools.
Arcadia Unified School District hires four new principals. They are Tom Bruce (First Avenue Middle School), Teresa Oakdale (Holly Avenue Elementary School), Ben Acker (Foothills Middle School), and Lauren Leahy (Hugo Reid Elementary School). The new hires come soon after David Vannasdall became the district superintendent in May.
Denny’s colorful windmill lights up Arcadia’s holiday spirits. The blades have been carefully fabricated and the official “turn-on” took place Friday, November 30. It now runs counterclockwise, 24-hours a day with LED lights. The restaurant used to be Van De Kamp’s.
Arcadia Unified School District celebrates its 2018-2019 Teacher of the Year, Janice Dickson. She is a 4th grade teacher at Longley Way Elementary School.
Iconic windmill spins once more at Denny’s. Less than a year after it detached and crashed into the restaurant, the windmill atop the Arcadia Denny’s is spinning again at the northeast corner of Huntington Drive and Santa Anita Avenue. One new addition to the windmill is LED lighting capable of changing colors. See also Arcadia Weekly, p. 1, 11, November 29, 2018.
Two Arcadia Unified School District schools earn California Distinguished School honors--Holly Avenue Elementary School and Longley Way Elementary School.
Seven area schools designated as "California Distinguished," including Camino Grove Elementary, Highland Oaks Elementary, and Longley Way Elementary from Arcadia Unified School District. The others are from Azusa Unified, San Gabriel Unified and Pasadena Unified school districts.
Jo Anne Seaman, who is blind, shared her personal stories and her red ham radio with Camino Grove Elementary School fourth graders (in photo with Seaman) Nathan Chien, Audrey Cho, Bradford Hunt, Jonas Yee, Elise Fong.
Arcadia's Baldwin Stocker Elementary School and Pasadena's Roosevelt Elementary have been nominated for National Blue Ribbon honor. The program recognizes some of the highest performing and most improved schools in the nation.
Maha Hakim, 52, of Arcadia, was struck by a car in the 1100 block of Duarte Road at 3:30 PM on Friday, November 30, and died of her injuries at Huntington Memorial Hospital. She was attempting to walk across the road near Sunset Blvd.
Nadia Hillman, former principal at Baldwin Stocker Elementary, will now be the principal of Foothills Middle School, replacing retired principal Tricia Hartline. Jayne Nickles will be the new principal at Baldwin Stocker Elementary.
A jury convicted DeQiang Song, 24 of Monterey Park, of the kidnapping and attempted murder of a 21-year-old woman, who he knew through a mutual friend, after taking her on a trip to Westfield Santa Anita shopping mall in Arcadia on September 8, 2010. He then took her to a remote area of desert in San Bernardino County and bound her, strangled her, sliced her throat with a knife and left her for dead. She survived. Song asked the victim's father for $10,000 in ransom money. He will be sentenced April 26 in Alhambra Superior Court.