Martin Plourde, Arcadia High School principal, was recognized at last week's meeting of the Arcadia Unified District's Governing Board, for completing a 3-year program sponsored by the School Leadership Academy.
The Board of Education welcomed Beverly Rodriguez, assistant principal at Roosevelt Junior High School in Glendale, as the new principal for First Avenue 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.
Arcadia Unified School District to reconsider Apaches as mascot amid online petition drive, officials say it is on agenda. It is a revival of a 20-year-old controversy to remove Apaches name and imagery amid a nationwide movement to erase offensive emblems. Shayan Farooq, a 2013 graduate of Arcadia High School, felt the issue needed to be addressed. Farooq started a petition at Change.org. AUSD spokesperson Ryan Foran said the issue will be addressed in its list of priorities after reopening schools during the coronavirus pandemic and recent sexual assault allegations involving current and former students who were video recorded, without consent, having sex. Controversy surrounding the Apaches mascot dates back two decades when Native American activists protested the Apache Joe mascot at Arcadia school board meetings in 1999. Then Principal Martin Plourde sought the White Mountain Apache Tribe's blessing to use the imagery and tribal leaders approved, but many students at Alchesay High School (Arcadia High School's sister school on Apache reservation) found the mascot offensive and urged Plourde to change it. 2018 Arcadia High School graduate Yumei Lin is leading a Facebook group to change the emblem.
Arcadia High School opened the school year with an added 800 9th grade students, bringing total enrollment to 3050. 50% of the students are new to the 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.
Many Arcadia High School students are unhappy with the quality of the photos in the 1998 AHS yearbook, taking away some of the thunder from the school's first interactive CD-ROM yearbook.
The new J Building and Music Building are ready at Arcadia High School, made possible by passage of the $28 million bond issue in April, 1993. The new facilities include the Library Technology Center, the new nurse's office, Associated Student Body Office and the Trading Post student store.
All freshmen entering Arcadia High School are required to swim 50 yards and tread water for three minutes. Senior Justin Briggs was in danger of not graduating because he had not passed the swimming competency test. A doctor's excuse enabled him to graduate.