The Glendale Unified School District is a

school district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public primary and secondary schools in various nations. North America United States In the U.S, most K–12 public schools function as units of local school districts, wh ...

based in Glendale, California,

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The school district serves the city of Glendale, portions of the city of

La Cañada Flintridge LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...

and the unincorporated communities of Montrose and La Crescenta. It consists of 20 elementary schools, 4 middle schools, 4 high schools and 3 facilities for homeschoolers and special-needs students. In the 2008–2009 school year, the district served 26,744 students and expects enrollment to decline 1–2% in each of the next three years. As of 2002, it was the third-largest district in Los Angeles County and among the thirty-largest in the State of

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. It is the 254th largest in the nation by student population. In 2009 the GUSD had 2,620 employees, of which about half are classroom teachers. Beginning in the 2016–2017 school year, GUSD started officially commemorating the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily through t ...

, having April 24 off as a holiday. They are the first school district in the nation to do so.

History

In 2013, the district hired the company Geo Listening to monitor social media accounts of students enrolled in the district. Richard Sheehan, the superintendent of Glendale Unified, said "The whole purpose is student safety."

Demographics

In the GUSD, by 1988, Armenians along with students from the Middle East had become the largest ethnic group in the public schools, now having a larger number than the Latinos. Alice Petrossian, the GUSD director of intercultural education, stated that Burbank lies within the middle of other Armenian communities, so it attracted Armenians.Clifford, Frank and Anne C. Roark. "Racial Lines in County Blur but Could Return : Population: Times study of census finds communities far more mixed. Some experts fear new ethnic divisions." ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

''. May 6, 1991. p
2
Retrieved on March 24, 2014. In 1987, the district had eight Armenian-speaking teachers and teaching aides, and that year had hired five additional Armenian-speaking teachers and teacher aides.Arax, Mark and Esther Schrader. "County Braces for Sudden Influx of Soviet Armenians." ''

''. March 8, 1988
online page 2
Print: Vol.107, p.1. Available from Cengage Learning, Inc. Retrieved on July 2, 2014. As of 1990, the largest immigrant group speaking an ethnic home language in the GUSD was the Armenians.Der-Martirosian, Claudia, Georges Sabagh, and Mehdi Bozorgmehr. "Subethnicity: Armenians in Los Angeles" (Chapter 11). In: Light, Ivan Huberta and Parminder Bhachu. ''Immigration and Entrepreneurship: Culture, Capital, and Ethnic Networks''.

Transaction Publishers Transaction Publishers was a New Jersey-based publishing house that specialized in social science books and journals. It was located on the Livingston Campus of Rutgers University. Transaction was sold to Taylor & Francis in 2016 and merged wit ...

, year unstated. Start page: 243. , 9781412825931. Cited: p
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By 2004, over 33% of the Glendale district students were Armenian. That year, due to high levels of student absence around the Armenian Christmas (January 6) and the anniversary of the start of the

( Red Sunday, April 24), the district considered making Armenian holidays school holidays, eventually, starting in the 2016 year, the district started having April 24 off.

Governance

The district is governed by a board of education consisting of five trustees who are elected to four-year terms. The board of education also appoints a

superintendent Superintendent may refer to: *Superintendent (police), Superintendent of Police (SP), or Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), a police rank *Prison warden or Superintendent, a prison administrator *Superintendent (ecclesiastical), a church exec ...

to oversee day-to-day operations of the district, as well as a non-voting student representative who serves during the school year. Effective with the April 2017 election, board of education members are elected by geographical district instead of at-large. Starting with the 2020 California Primary election, Glendale Unified School District Board of Education election is being held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in March to comply with the statewide election law (Senate Bill 415). The current board of education is as follows: *Dr. Vivian Ekchian – superintendent *Dr. Armina Gharpetian – president *Mrs. Nayiri Nahabedian – vice president *Mr. Gregory Krikorian – clerk *Mrs. Jennifer Freemon – member *Mr. Shant Sahakian – member

Election results

''Source: City Clerk, City of Glendale''

Schools

Elementary schools (Kindergarten – Grade 6)

*Balboa Elementary School *Cerritos Elementary School *Columbus Elementary School (K-5th) *Dunsmore Elementary School *Thomas A. Edison Elementary School *Benjamin Franklin Elementary School *John C. Fremont Elementary School *Glenoaks Elementary School *Thomas Jefferson Elementary School *Mark Keppel Elementary School (K-5th) *La Crescenta Elementary School *Abraham Lincoln Elementary School *Horace Mann Elementary School (K-5th) *John Marshall Elementary School (K-5th) *Monte Vista Elementary School *Mountain Avenue Elementary School *John Muir Elementary School *Verdugo Woodlands Elementary School *Valley View Elementary School *Richardson D. White Elementary School (K-5th)

Middle schools (Grade 7 – Grade 8)

*Theodore Roosevelt Middle School (Grade 6 through Grade 8) *Rosemont Middle School (Grade 7 and Grade 8) *Eleanor J. Toll Middle School (Grade 6 through Grade 8) *Woodrow Wilson Middle School (Grade 6 through Grade 8)

High schools (Grade 9 – Grade 12)

* Anderson W. Clark Magnet High School *

Crescenta Valley High School Crescenta Valley High School is a high school in La Crescenta, California. Around 2500 students attend the school, which serves North Glendale, unincorporated La Crescenta and Montrose, as well as a municipal neighborhood on the western boundary o ...

* Glendale High School * Herbert Hoover High School *Allan F. Daily High School

Other schools

*College View School – special-needs students *Verdugo Academy – independent/homeschool students *Jewel City Community Day School - independent students

Safety

The district contracts with the Glendale Police Department for schools within Glendale, and the

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD), officially the County of Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, is a law enforcement agency serving Los Angeles County, California. LASD is the largest sheriff's department in the United States ...

for schools within Montrose and La Crescenta.

Cybersurveillance of students

In 2012, the District hired Geo Listening for a pilot program to monitor public online activity of students at the

Crescenta Valley The Crescenta Valley is a small inland valley in Los Angeles County, California, lying between the San Gabriel Mountains on the northeast and the Verdugo Mountains and San Rafael Hills on the southwest. It opens into the San Fernando Valley at t ...

, Glendale, and Hoover High Schools. While the school district has claimed that the program, now expanded to all of the District's schools, is meant to detect

cyberbullying Cyberbullying or cyberharassment is a form of bullying or harassment using electronic means. Cyberbullying and cyberharassment are also known as online bullying. It has become increasingly common, especially among teenagers, as the digital ...

, critics have questioned whether it violates the privacy rights of students and whether the $40,500 spent on the program so far is well spent. Analysts working for Geo Listening comb through posts students from Glendale Unified School District schools make on

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and Instagram, reporting daily to school administrators. Reports include the student's user names, screen captures of their posts, and details on where they were when they made the post. An attorney with the ACLU characterized the program as "sweeping and far afield of what is necessary to ensure student safety."

References

External links

*
Education.com – GUSD school statistics and scores.
{{Authority control School districts in Los Angeles County, California Education in Glendale, California