Arcadia Unified 'lip-dubs spirit of its middle schools. Some 2,200 Arcadia Unified School District middle school students and adults are featured in a four minute YouTube video featuring Jason Derulo's "Undefeated," to show their school spirit and pride. A lip-dub video is music played over a lip-sync video, filmed in one continuous shot.
Arcadia gets top marks in county API scores. Arcadia Unified School District has three of the top four highest scoring middle schools on the Academic Performance Index. Foothills Middle School ranked first, tied with Huntington Middle School in San Marino. First Avenue Middle School and Dana Middle School also ranked in the top four in Los Angeles County.
First Avenue Middle School welcomes new principal Semeen Issa. Dr. Issa had been assistant principal at the school for the past 6 years and this will be her 17th year at First Avenue Middle School.
Arcadia Unified School District revives middle school athletics. In 1995, the middle school sports program was dismantled when the district transitioned junior high to the middle school model (6th-8th grades), then the focus veered heavily toward academics. On December 3, 2015, First Avenue Middle School faced off with Dana Middle School for the first time in two decades.
Arcadia Unified School District's First Avenue Middle School music teacher Michael Danielson is one of only 16 teachers to be recognized as a 2019-2020 Teacher of the Year.
Two Arcadia Unified School District schools earn California Distinguished School honors--Holly Avenue Elementary School and Longley Way Elementary School.
Arcadia Unified School District middle schools First Avenue, Foothills, and Dana, make it to the top 12 of 2018 Niche rankings of public middle schools in the Los Angeles area. See also Arcadia Weekly, p. 14, November 2, 2017.
Arcadia’s First Avenue Middle School student-actors are out of this world. The school’s Production class of 2019 has been preparing the entire fall semester for its upcoming play “Out of This World,” to be performed December 6 and 7 in the First Avenue auditorium. The theater teacher is Susi Reck. The theater program at First Avenue has four different levels.
Television show “Trading Spaces” transforms teachers’ lounges at First Avenue Middle School and Holly Avenue Elementary School. Shown in photo “Trading Spaces” host Paige Davis and Arcadia Unified School District educators Karalee Nakatsuka, Megan Forbes, Regina Ringo and Teresa Oakland. The show airs on the TLC network.
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 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.
Dana Middle School students released a weather balloon 80,000 feet into the air. It was made of latex and equipped with a tracking device that sent updates every 16 seconds to science teacher Mike Mora's laptop computer. The balloon reached its final resting place near California City, north of Edwards Air Force Base, about 150 miles from its launch point.
Dana Middle School's iconic concrete monument topped by an iron anchor was destroyed and removed this summer to prepare for renovations of the school's courtyard. Former students were upset over the loss, as it represented school pride. Joann Steinmeier, School Board President, said the anchor itself has been preserved and will be showcased in a fenced area in a new, smaller courtyard.
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.
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.