Save Our Summers – A Final Call to Action

Last year 2,500 people petitioned the school board to put August and more weeks back into our summers. Teachers and parents were encouraged to vote in subsequent surveys and community meetings. Their opinions reflected this same imperative community request. But the GUSD board has chosen to ignore these pleas and recently adopted a 2017-18 calendar that eliminated only three holidays. We went from nine full weeks of summer to nine full weeks and a partial week. Now the board is discussing 2018-19 and we want to eliminate enough holidays to return to the 11 full weeks of summer that we enjoyed before all the extra holidays were added.

Please do the following two (2) things:

1) Immediately, take five minutes to log on to the GUSD Board of Education and email any or all board members, individually. Ask them to honor the votes from the survey and community meetings and return to 11 full weeks of summer recess.

2) Please show your support by attending the next board meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 13 at 6:30 p.m. – 223 N. Jackson St., Glendale CA 91206.

Top Priorities

1. Start “Two Mondays before Labor Day” to give the AP students more instruction before the May AP Test.

2. Our calendar should never start earlier than the “2nd Monday before Labor Day,” thus keeping most of August in the summer recess.

3. GUSD will honor the following 25 holidays: Labor Day, Veterans’ Day, Thanksgiving (2), Winter Break (10), Armenian Christmas, Martin Luther King Day, Presidents’ Day (1), Spring Recess (5), Armenian Genocide, Memorial Day and, possibly, one more holiday if needed.

4. Eliminate seven-to-eight of the extra student holidays. Avoid adding new holidays in the future so that we can maintain 11 full weeks of summer recess every year.

5. Provide 85 instructional days before winter break so that we can end first semester at winter break.

Please email and come to the board meeting.

More information available on the GUSDPARENTS Facebook page

Thank you,

Marilyn Bayles

La Crescenta

Supports Planning Decision on Cell Tower

Placement and appearance of cell towers have been controversial almost since the first day they came into existence. It is a delicate balance between the technological needs of the public who want their devices to work and the “quality of life” needs of those who do not wish to look at an unsightly “monopine.”

Under the Telecommunications Act of 1996, local jurisdictions are mandated to accommodate installation requests to improve service coverage but have the flexibility to decide where the tower should go. Our leaders should be particularly mindful of community impacts when making these decisions. Glendale’s recent solution to this matter is to allow cell tower installation in public parks and on school properties, which also generates lease revenue for the City.

I support the decision by the Glendale Planning Commission that rejected the application for a 60-foot cell tower and equipment building in Dunsmore Park. On Dec. 13, I further urge the Glendale City Council to reject the appeal brought forth by Eukon Group for AT&T Mobility. I believe in the spirit of the North Glendale Community Plan that open space in parks should be preserved and should not be surrendered to this technology. Certainly, this is not the very last option as AT&T suggests. Let’s find another more suitable location.

Susan Bolan

La Crescenta/
Far North Glendale Resident

Another Look at Sale of Golf Course

In response to the letter to the editor from Marc Stirdivant [“V.O.I.C.E. Responds to Hoberman,” Nov. 24], as a resident of the unincorporated area of La Crescenta and as a student of real estate appraisal, I disagree with the V.O.I.C.E. objection to housing development at the Verdugo Hills Golf Course site.

People need a place to live. Home ownership and the rights of private property are cornerstones of the traditions of liberty and free enterprise in America.

There are abundant homeownership benefits to a community. Homeownership boosts a community’s tax base, paying for infrastructure, police and fire protection. It brings an increase in civic participation, and charitable activity.

According to the National Association of Homebuilders, there are typically 26 services involved in every real estate transaction; movers, painters and contractors called on before and after a home sale closed. It takes typically 22 subcontractors to build the average single-family home. Homeowners frequently bring income to their local economy, business and services.

The one agreement I have with Stirdivant is the need for a current appraisal; however, the developer probably cannot share the cost of an appraisal due to the possibility of there being a conflict of interest. But a current appraisal and an estimate of the costs may give the V.O.I.C.E. a dollar figure of value for the property in question.

Michael Powers

CV-CERT Team 2 Capt.

La Crescenta