Arcadia police arrested two Arcadia High School students 16, and 15, in connection with a December 11 racial incident in which a cross was burned and anti-Asian epithets were scrawled on the front yard of a home in the 200 block of Arbolada Drive. The two boys were booked for damaging property based on ethnic origin and were released to the custody of their parents.
Joseph I, 15, a 9th-grader at Foothills Junior High School has been named one of 15 semifinalists in the instrumental music category for the Music Center's Second Annual Spotlight Award. The Spotlight Award Ceremony and Dinner will be held March 5 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Mr. I has also been invited to attend master classes given by the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
A recent court ruling that prohibits school districts from charging for bus service could prompt a restructuring of student transportation programs in Arcadia.
The 49-year-old Anoakia School, facing a June deadline for relocation, has opted for local print advertising. Owner Lowry McCaslin apparently wants to develop the property at Foothill Blvd. and Baldwin Ave. However, the school also has numerous city fire code violations and a building that is not up to seismic standards. The school currently has 279 students from K-8th grade.
Terrance M. Towner, former Pasadena resident and school superintendent in Los Gatos, will be next superintendent for the Arcadia Unified School District. The Arcadia Board of Education selected Towner after a 4-month search. He replaces Stephen Goldstone, who left in September to become superintendent with the Chino Unified School District. Mr. Towner will earn $91,000 per year.
John Allsbury, 39, the Arcadia auto broker accused of felony grand theft, was found guilty of nine felony counts of grand theft and nine misdemeanor counts of operating his auto brokerage without a state license. Sentencing was scheduled for March 9 in Los Angeles Superior Court.
Arcadia George A. Bolton, social science instructor at San Bernardino Valley College and Craafton Hills College, Yucaipa, has been included in the recent edition of "Who's Who in California." Bolton is a staff analyst for the department of environmental health services for San Bernardino County, while continuing to teach part-time at the colleges. He was honored after a personal/training study he published received national attention.
The Arcadia Rotary Club awarded grants totaling $4,990 to 17 teachers at the February 13 Arcadia Board of Education meeting. Grants ranging from $175 to $300 were given to individual teachers to help with special classroom projects. The teachers represented 5 of the 6 Arcadia elementary schools, all 3 junior high schools and both Arcadia and Huntington high schools.
The Arcadia Unified School District Board of Education backed the idea of a resolution calling for an immediate halt to aerial spraying of malathion. The board's actions came less than a week after the Arcadia City Council unanimously passed a resolution asking for a halt to the spraying.
Ten Arcadia High School students have been selected as National Merit finalists, placing them among 14,000 competing for the 6100 available Merit Scholarships. The seniors are Kenneth Branson, Sidney Chung, Enrique Colayco, Bonnie Flinn, Norbert Hsu, Jacqueline Luk, Douglas McCreary, Regina Momblanco, David Park and Henry Tseng.
Police have arrested nine people who are believed to be members of a San Gabriel Valley Asian gang that has been under investigation in recent months for terrorizing local Asian youths. Four adults and five juveniles were taken into custody after police linked them with a February 15 kidnapping, attempted extortion and assault.
Kiewit Pacific Company, a construction firm formerly based in Arcadia and now located in Santa Fe Springs was fined $50,000 for burying 50 industrial drums, of which 2 contained hazardous liquid, on its Arcadia property between 1982 and 1985.
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.
Rebecca Switzer, a math instructor at Arcadia High School, was one of 10 Los Angeles County teachers selected as a finalist in the Jaime Escalante Mathematics Teacher Awards program.
Francis Ching, 60, a native Hawaiian, is retiring after 20 years as supervisor of the Los Angeles County Dept. of Arboreta and Botanic Gardens, which includes the LA County Arboretum in Arcadia.
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.
Test scores of Arcadia Unified School District's seniors rose this year. The reading score was 294 (up 19 points) while math score was 333 (up 20 points). Since 1987-88, students moved from the 77th to the 85th percentile in reading and from the 89th to the 96th percentile in math statewide.
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.
Arcadia police are using SMART, or Speed Monitoring Awareness Radar Trailer, to educate residents into "voluntary compliance" with posted speeds. Placed at various locations, the trailers have a changeable sign for legal speed limits and an electronic readout of the actual speed of each car that whizzes by. The device can read speeds from about 1/4 mile away.
Sandi McQuilkin, a volunteer at Holly Avenue Elementary School, has received the Golden Apple Award for her service to the community. The award, given for outstanding community leadership, is sponsored by the Northwest San Gabriel Valley Administrators Association.