District officials discussed these issues at a Northwest Glendale Homeowners Association meeting organized to air concerns about the enrollment lottery, which could exclude students living just beyond 1/2 mile from any of the schools.

Notes from the lively discussion:

GUSD Superintendent Richard Sheehan stated “We wrote the grant to be successful.” – His point was that finding funds to keep good programs going is a priority for the district. School Board member Christine Walters had remarked in an earlier conversation, “All the funds we get come with strings attached; this is no exception.”

The publicity surrounding the award emphasized that it created three new GUSD magnet schools – Arts (Keppel), Technology (Edison), and Foreign Language (Franklin), but it is actually a desegregation grant with incentives for students to enroll in schools outside of their neighborhood or district. Assistant Superintendent John Garcia said GUSD lobbied for a provision giving priority to local students living within 1/2 mile of each school, as the federal grant typically doesn’t accommodate any local preference.

Homeowners hoping to send their children to the nearest local school, or property owners hoping to sell their home based on the local school’s reputation, didn’t have that guarantee even before the grant was in place, said school officials. District caps for K-3rd class sizes have placed some GUSD students in schools farther from their homes for years.

Intra-district permits are already being given to 5% of GUSD students who choose to attend other schools. District officials cited statistics showing that an increasing number of students within Mark Keppel’s boundary have elected to attend other schools.

Communication between the school district and the community it serves emerged as a critical need, as the homeowners felt they weren’t informed about this important change in the local school enrollment system. School Board President Greg Krikorian said GUSD will be hosting a special joint meeting March 21 with the Glendale Homeowners Coordinating Council.

Last takeaway: The Great Recession rolls on, forcing compromises, changes, and possibly elimination of educational programs at every level in this state. GUSD board members must stay abreast of developments, be sensitive to the community they serve, and show they are capable of making very tough choices. TUNE IN to the GUSD School Board race – attend the Forum tonight in the GUSD Board Room, or watch on GREGtv (Channel 15 or 99) – and make sure to vote in the upcoming April 5 election.

The foundation, which will promote the former president’s ideals of building a more peaceful world, opened its doors yesterday in Los Angeles on the 100th anniversary of Wilson’s entry into public life (winning the nomination for governor of New Jersey).

After a morning ceremony at Los Angeles City Hall, foundation dignitaries came to Wilson Middle School to meet with GUSD officials, the school principal, and several middle school students.
Donald Wilson Bush (left center, holding Los Angeles welcome certificate) with supporters, GUSD officials, and Wilson Middle School students.

Donald Wilson Bush, great-great grandson of Woodrow Wilson, said to the students: “No one achieves their dreams in a vacuum. Everybody finds their dreams with somebody else. I want to thank you for helping me find my dream in building the Woodrow Wilson Legacy Foundation…The mission of the Woodrow Wilson Legacy Foundation is to inspire a new generation of world leaders.”

He followed up by encouraging each student to share their name and their dream for the future. The 8th Grade President and the ASB President each also welcomed Bush and the group and thanked them for their interest in the school.

Bush was invited in 2009 to speak in Glendale on Woodrow Wilson’s concern for Armenia’s self-determination, and discussions about a special tie to Wilson Middle School began soon after, as he visited with many members of Glendale’s diaspora community.

GUSD Board President Greg Krikorian worked on the project idea with Bush. He told the gathering yesterday: “There is a lot of potential here to memorialize the legacy of Woodrow Wilson, the role he played in the United States, for Armenian-Americans, and for the diaspora.”

Wilson Principal Richard Lucas was also on hand, and he thanked the foundation for selecting this school site among the many middle schools and high schools all over the country named after the former president. Woodrow Wilson Middle School will also mark its 100th anniversary next September (it was originally built and named Third Street School in 1911; renamed Woodrow Wilson Jr. High in 1926).

Councilwoman-elect Laura Friedman, first-time challenger who received the largest number of votes for city council, had strong backing from local homeowner groups. Her five years on Design Review Board as a consistent force for neighborhood compatability and code enforcement gave her a running start with this important constituency.

Ann Ransford, also a first-time challenger, received the largest number of votes for a seat on the Glendale Community College Board of Trustees. Ransford has an exemplary record of service to the college, where she worked most recently as Executive Director of the college foundation raising more than $10 million for endowments, scholarships and programs.

Incumbent Ara Najarian received the second largest number of votes for city council; the points he stressed in voter forums and mailers were his confidence in and good working relationships with Glendale’s Fire and Police departments, and his ability to represent Glendale on the MTA board in regional transportation planning.

Incumbent Frank Quintero, also a strong proponent of city public safety staffing and budgets, has strongly supported neighborhood preservation and been attentive to homeowners’ concerns during his campaigns and council terms. Quintero’s years of work supporting the local business community also worked in his favor.

Voters were reluctant to hand two school board seats to candidates backed by the Glendale Teachers’ Association. They re-elected incumbents Greg Krikorian and Joylene Wagner, who have resisted past union demands. The union spent large amounts to promote Christine Walters and Eric Sahakian. While Walters, a long-time PTA member with two sons in Glendale schools, managed to unseat incumbent Chakib Sambar, Sahakian trailed in fifth place in final returns.

Re-elected community college board incumbents Armine Hacopian and Anita Quinonez Gabrielian, who supported Ann Ransford in joint election advertising for the three open positions, held strong leads as a result of their past board service records.

The Glendale City Clerk, who ran unopposed and was re-elected, has posted final election results on glendalevotes.org.

Thank you to AMGA and show host Greg Krikorian for giving GOACT a chance to get the word out about this important issue! Among the points GOACT leaders covered:

We all use cell phones and we all rely on good reception. But there are places where industry is placed in a city — factories, warehouses, railroad tracks, shopping centers. In residential areas, throughout the city’s single family and multi-family areas, there is a process that monitors how construction fits into the environment.

What we’re asking for are some logical and reasonable construction requirements. We’re asking for the same processes that homeowners would have to follow if they were building a 3-story tower on their property.

T-Mobile and other cell phone companies are not public utilities. These are for-profit companies taking advantage of laws and the public right-of-way. They’re putting up equipment that has potential safety/maintenance issues, is a nuisance, and destroys property values. There has to be some oversight. Their business profits should not be our losses.

This isn’t just about one cell tower. To compete for broadband business, T-Mobile will need towers throughout our neighborhoods. They’ve already applied to build a second tower a few blocks away from their proposed site near Cumberland and Pacific.

And remember, this is a more intrusive and less efficient technology than high-speed fiber optic cable, which our government and the telecom companies promised us more than a decade ago. We haven’t gotten it; instead we have companies like T-Mobile attempting to gain market share and profits by putting up wireless towers.

GOACT wants to stop this intrusion into residential areas, make sure there are fewer towers put up overall, and guarantee more oversight over their location and construction.

Contact your state and federal representatives and let them know that laws allowing for-profit outfits like T-Mobile to take advantage of privileges for public utilities should be changed – laws like the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and the California Public Utilities Code Section 7901.