Arcadia, Monrovia, and Duarte schools all forced to lock down this week due to phoned in threats of a gunman on 4 separate campuses. On Thursday, September 12, the caller contacted Arcadia Police Department, reporting "he was at Arcadia High School and that he was going to start shooting students with an assault rifle." A second call was received during the police search of the campus that told officers to back off or they would be shot. No suspects of weapons were found.
Arcadia High School recognized as one of the best public high schools in California, according to Niche, an influential school and neighborhood review website.
Arcadia High School's awesome government class travels to "We the People" finals. Megan Leahy is the teacher of the Advanced Placement (AP) U.S. Government class going to the national competition in Washington DC.
Last week's fake bomb threat at Arcadia High School by a 14-year-old student, who was arrested, caused a lockdown of almost 4,000 students and personnel for several hours. This had a great impact on the school. Thousands of dollars of hot lunches were wasted, additional revenue was lost when all school activities in the afternoon and evening had to be canceled, and overtime had to be paid to maintenance workers.
Arcadia High School student Nathan Chou earns rare perfect score on Advanced Placement (AP) Calculus BC Exam. Chou is one of just 11 students in the world that reached perfection on this test. Nathan was born and raised in Arcadia.
Arcadia High School senior Ryan Leung earns perfect AP exam score on the AP College Board's Computer Science A exam in 2017. He is among only 111 other students on Earth who got perfect scores on this exam. His teacher was Brent Reiske. See also Arcadia Weekly, p. 1, 11, April 5, 2018.
Arcadia High School receives national recognition for commitment to empowering students. Named a Project Lead the Way (PLTW) Distinguished School for its STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) and career learning program.
Arcadia Unified School District named to the 2018-2019 Educational Results Partnership Honor Roll for its high achievement in student success for the second consecutive year. Arcadia Unified School District is one of only 26 public school districts to receive this recognition.
Mentally ill man Gerardo Cortez, 26, of Monrovia, is arrested for allegedly making telephone threats to shoot adults and children at a hospital, a mall, and schools in Arcadia and Monrovia.
Dr. Brent Forsee, Principal of Arcadia High School for seven years now, is being recommended as next Arcadia Unified School District Assistant Superintendent. If approved, Dr. Forsee would succeed Dr. Jeff Wilson, who is being recommended as next Superintendent of San Marino Unified School District.
Guilty verdict delivered to Lawrence Joseph Farry, 25, who was convicted of gross vehicular manslaughter, in the death of former Arcadia resident Joan Milazzo in August last year. Farry struck Milazzo with his car in the Del Sur area of North County San Diego. Milazzo grew up in the San Gabriel Valley, graduated from Alverno High School in Sierra Madre and was a member of St. Rita Catholic Parish in Sierra Madre.
Arcadia Unified School District (AUSD) Deputy Superintendent Robert Leri has resigned. Arcadia High School Principal David Vannasdall will take on the additional role of Deputy Superintendent March 1 and leave his job as principal at end of school year to become Deputy Superintendent. Other personnel changes within the school district. AUSD is trying to cover a projected $7 million annual budget deficit with a proposed 5-year parcel tax. Arcadia Educational Foundation is doing its annual solicitation.
Unanimous Arcadia City Council acts to place local funding measure, known as the “Arcadia Public Safety, City Services and Accountability Measure” on the June 2019 ballot to maintain public safety and other city services. City staff and the Citizen’s Financial Advisory Committee have indicated Arcadia has a multi-million dollar structural deficit.