Two ad hoc committees have been established to help the Board of Education make a final ruling on two major problems: Smoking (recent legislation has made smoking on campus legal at the discretion of the local school board) and Graduation requirements.
A discussion of the proposed changes in high school graduation requirements. Proposed changes include an increase from 2 to 3 years of English and a minimum of 1 year of U.S. history rather than the 3 quarters now required.
The Arcadia Board of Education has been studying the legal status and requirements of driver education. So far driver education has not been offered at Arcadia High School this year.
New law classes will be given at Arcadia High School. A list of other new classes and other points of discussion from the Board of Education meeting are included.
In a rather lengthy meeting last week, the Arcadia Board of Education ratified modifications to the current contract agreement with the Arcadia Pupil Support Services Association. Other business follows.
The Arcadia Board of Education approved a Local Agency Education plan to bring the district into compliance with the federal No Child Left Behind program, which requires that students meet state proficiency standards by 2013-2014. For California, the standard is 100% graduation with all requirements for University of California admission met.
Since October 1975 a committee of citizens, teachers and
administrators have been studying requirements for graduation from high school. They recommend raising the units needed to graduate from 160 to 170. The School Board will vote on this proposal on April 14.
The Arcadia Board of Education turned down a recommendation to shorten the last week of school at the high school. The recommendation was that for the last week, Monday would be a full day, while Tuesday through Thursday would be half days.
Following the format of a meeting "agenda", the Arcadia Board of Education celebrated the career of retiring Arcadia Schools Superintendent Terry Towner.
Martin Plourde, Arcadia High School principal, was recognized at last week's meeting of the Arcadia Unified District's Governing Board, for completing a 3-year program sponsored by the School Leadership Academy.
At the Board of Education annual organizational meeting, three members, Maryann Gibson, James C. Romo, and John R. McClain were officially sworn to begin their new term of office. A profile of McClain, the new 1999-2000 board president, is presented.
Arcadia City Manager Bill Kelly and Mayor Gary Kovacic met with school board members to discuss possible city-school district projects. School Board members questioned how much a new auditorium would be used and were cool to a joint plan.
At the Board of Education meeting there was some discussion of the Space Utilization Committee's recommendation to close two elementary schools, Bonita Park and Baldwin Stocker. Robert Kladifke, a member of the committee, objected to closing the newest and most educationally modern school in the district, Baldwin Stocker. Two public hearings are scheduled.