About 300 students in kindergarten through 5th grade will attend new schools in September because the school board unanimously approved changes in school attendance boundaries.
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.
Arcadia City Council has approved funding for outdoor lights at Dana and First Avenue middle schools, but opposed lighting a soccer field at Foothills Middle School.
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.
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.
The Arcadia Educational Foundation raised about $90,000 for Arcadia schools over the last year by selling more than $1.4 million in "scrip" or vouchers for groceries.
The City Council has temporarily closed Wilderness Park on weekends (at least until September 7) because of overcrowding. About 200-300 visitors use the park each weekend, although it has a capacity for 100 people and 50 parking spaces.
The Arcadia Unified School District is participating in the Fulbright Teacher exchange Program for the first time. The program is responsible for First Avenue Middle School teacher Michelle Shaw exchanging places with Leena Heinila, a teacher from Helsinki, Finland.
In an attempt to produce permanent revenue enhancement, the City Council has agreed to go to ballot with a Fire Suppression District assessment which would ask property owners to tax themselves to achieve a balanced budget.
As of last week 8,188 students were enrolled in the Arcadia Unified School District. This figure is a 68 student increase over the 8,120 students enrolled in the district at the end of last year. Class sizes are hovering around 29.8.