Campus safety and tight funding rank among the issues of greatest concern to the five candidates seeking three open seats on the Arcadia Unified School District Board of Education.
Thirty-seven portable classrooms-or nearly half the campus - are being used to house students at Arcadia High School while the school undergoes and $8.5 million renovation.
A divided school board voted 3-2 Tuesday to allow Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale" to be used in an Arcadia High School English class, despite complaints the book is too sexually explicit.
The Arcadia Unified School District Telethon aims to raise about $50,000 for Arcadia Educational Foundation's $2.5 million "Connect to the Future" capital campaign to bring the latest technology to every district classroom by 2000.
The school board on Tuesday night unanimously approved a framework for change concerning grades. The details of the district's grading standards will be worked out over the coming months.
James Romo, an education attorney and school district volunteer, has been selected to fill the vacant seat on the Arcadia School board. He will replace Michael Lamb, who resigned from the board last month.
Incumbents Maryann Gibson and Michael O. Lamb were re-elected to the Arcadia Unified School District board. They were joined by first-time candidate John McClain.
Dootson School of Trucking, an Arcadia trade school, is on a federal list of school that face loss of eligibility for some student loan programs because of a high rate of borrowers in default.
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.
Incumbents Mary Dougherty, 57, and Joann Steinmeier, 47, beat out challenger Debbie Ewing, 29, for 2 Arcadia Unified School District Board of Education positions. A bond measure to raise funds to renovate AUSD facilities won by a vote of 71% to 28.3% (67% was needed to pass).