By Mikaela STONE

At the Oct. 10 Glendale Unified School District (GUSD) meeting, community members rallied around the GUSD Japanese Dual Language (JDL) program. Some speakers agreed that moving the program from Wilson Middle School and Glendale High School to Rosemont Middle School and Crescenta Valley High School would be the right decision to keep the programs robust; however, students who spoke disagreed. They stated their classrooms were important communities for them to practice their Japanese with one another. The change in location would force them to choose between their dual language community and their resident school they had been in since kindergarten, with friends they have made outside the dual language course.

Many parents complained about the lack of communication regarding this decision, which school board members acknowledged. In light of the balanced arguments from both sides, the board decided to abstain from making any decisions until board members do more research into what is best for the schools and the students. This will give the District staff more time to communicate thoroughly with parents, students and teachers, as well as give the parents active with the program time to mobilize and recruit other community members. With Verdugo Woodlands Elementary as the pilot school for the JDL program, it is important to many community members that the program stay open at that location. The ultimate goal is to fill three kindergarten classrooms, two at Dunsmore Elementary and one at Verdugo Woodlands Elementary.

The Glendale Teachers Association (GTA) spoke during its scheduled time to question why, in a school district that continually ranks high at the national level of high schools from U.S. News and World Reports, the school continually receives low rankings of wages for teachers.

The GTA called for an offer [its] membership could ratify and posed concerns on how the school district would stay competitive when the wages it offers to potential teachers is not competitive enough to attract the best educators. 

During the meeting the teachers, administrators and GUSD school board members expressed support for the tragedy at John Muir Elementary. Earlier this month a GUSD and City of Glendale employee was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting six children at Muir. He was described as an after-school coach for football and other sports and was an aide for disabled students. The Los Angeles County District Attorney has charged Pedro Antonio Tellez in the molestation of at least six boys.

The board members stated they have taken new security measures in addition to those already in place to prevent this type of offense in the future. The district uses a security system, Raptor Technologies, which is an automated system that accounts for the locations of students in emergencies and tracks the whereabouts of volunteers on campus. Schools within GUSD are monitored with over one thousand cameras district wide. The district hired a new school resource officer (SRO) to represent a police presence in schools bringing the total number of SROs within the district to three officers in high schools and one in middle school. The schools remain in a close relationship with the justice system, resulting in law enforcement notifying them within 24 hours of any employee activity that may pose a threat to students. On the personnel level, teachers are trained at the beginning of the year on how to detect workplace bullying, exploitation and human trafficking and trained on how to prevent suicide. School staff is mandated reporters, required to report any suspicions they may have of child abuse of any kind from anyone. While some present expressed fear that the measures taken are not sufficient, GUSD has invited the public to discuss such safety systems with their individual school’s principal to receive clear answers in a climate where misinformation abounds.

Board President Jennifer Freemon condemned such misinformation by directly addressing Glendale Councilmember Ara Najarian on repeating unproven accusations made by parents. (He did this during a podcast interview.) These accusations have been denied by the district multiple times. Freemon stated such misinformation ran the risk of undermining the public education system. She offered an open conversation to address the issues.

Councilmember Ara Najarian told Crescenta Valley Weekly his comments were focused on the parents who spoke against GUSD policies, and wanted to show his support for them. The parents he was defending have stated they felt hateful language had been directed at them. He admitted he did not reach out to anyone in the district for information concerning this issue.

The accusations made by the parents Najarian referred to have not been substantiated and have been denied by district administration, staff, teachers and some students.  

School board member Ingrid Gunnell affirmed during the meeting that the school board was there to support all students in Glendale. In light of this statement, she also acknowledged the stress Palestinian and Israeli students now carry in addition to the responsibility of simply being students.

Glendale is a diverse community. GUSD constituents also include students who have family members who are in war-torn areas. It is important we use the opportunities from our dais to uplift families, Gunnell said.

Amid the conflict and difficult discussions, however, the school board was happy to offer a contract to the newly appointed superintendent Dr. Darneika Watson.

Watson said everything imaginable that could happen in the span of 10 days has happened to this district. It would be enough to make anyone run away but this district needs continuity and support.

“I serve a fabulous community and wouldn’t change it for the world,” she said.

Many of the parents and students fighting for JDL’s future supported Watson in their public comments, pleased that she had taken the time to sit down with them and hear their concerns, even outside of the school board meeting.

Watson’s family and former mentor cheered her on from Zoom with Drake Davis, her son, showing up in person to give a heartfelt speech about how proud he was ­– a sentiment echoed by her daughter Deyla Davis. Watson’s family recognized how hard it is for her to exist in the world as a Black woman, which her fellow school board members echoed, acknowledging the importance of her achievement specifically in Glendale, which started as a sundown town. She is the first Black female superintendent in GUSD. Her sister noted that Watson’s family is proud but not surprised at her success.  

In other positive news, October was proclaimed Filipino American History month. Fliipino students make up 4.4% of the GUSD student population.