Leonard Rodriguez, executive vice principal at St. Francis School in La Canada-Flintridge, has been named Assistant Principal of First Avenue Junior High School.
The Arcadia Unified School District Board of Education chose Karen M. Cline, assistant principal at Ramona Intermediate School in Bonita, to be the new principal for First Avenue Junior High School.
The Arcadia Unified School District Board of Education chose June Mochizuki, Assistant Principal at Rio Hondo and Gidley Schools in El Monte, to be the new principal for Baldwin Stocker Elementary School.
Richard Grimes, the dean of students at Crescenta Valley High School in the Glendale Unified School District, has been named director/principal of alternative programs in the Arcadia Unified School District, replacing the retired Richard Towner.
The Arcadia Board of Education will study the environmental impact of new uses and the addition of lights at Dana and First Avenue Middle schools and the Arcadia High School softball field.
Former two-term Arcadia Board of Education member and longtime Arcadia resident Robert E. Kladifko was recently named California School Administrator of the year in the high school principal category by the Association of California School Administrators.
William Kelly, with 22 years of city government experience in Burbank, Brea, Baldwin Park and San Bruno, has been hired as Arcadia's first community development director and assistant to the city manager. This new position replaces the planning director job that had been vacant for several months.
A committee to hear public comment on the possible demolition of First Avenue Jr. High School and the sale of other district property was created Monday by the Board of Education.
First Avenue Junior High was one of 3 area schools to receive the state Dept. of Education's Distinguished High School and Middle School Awards. Arcadia's Foothill Jr. High received the award in 1988. The other winners included San Marino High School and the L. A. County High School for the Arts at Cal State Los Angeles.
A request from a group of parents that the play "Secrets", dealing with AIDS and birth control, be cancelled at Foothills Junior High has been unanimously denied by the Arcadia Board of Education. Sponsored by Kaiser Permanente and performed throughout the state, the play was requested by parents at the junior high level after it was shown last year at Arcadia High School.
A group of parents plans to ask the school board to cancel the performance of the play "Secrets" at Foothill Junior High since it addresses the issues of AIDS and birth control without, as they see it, meeting state education guidelines because it does not stress abstinence from intercourse as an alternative.