Dear Glendale Unified Students, Employees, Families, and Community,
I want to wish you and your families a happy and healthy Thanksgiving and offer my sincerest gratitude for your commitment to Glendale Unified School District. Thank you for everything you do to support the youth in our community. I am very grateful to be the superintendent of this amazing school district and to serve each and every one of you.
Together, as a district family, we continue to foster a positive, inclusive culture on our campuses that emphasizes health and wellbeing for all of our students, employees, and families. The holiday season is a wonderful time to spread joy and kindness and provide service to our community. It is also an important time to practice self-care and to reach out to those close to us who may need additional support.
This Thanksgiving, let’s continue to spread positivity and treat each other - and ourselves - with kindness and empathy. I hope you have an opportunity next week to take a much-deserved break and spend time with family, friends, and loved ones.
Wishing you and your families all the best, Vivian Ekchian, Ed.D. Superintendent of Schools
Celebrating 100 Years of Learning at Thomas Jefferson Elementary Thomas Jefferson Elementary School held their centennial celebration today. Students, teachers, staff, and families put on an amazing show featuring student performances and speeches from current and former educators, student and parent leaders. Jefferson Elementary second graders even performed "100 years of dance" featuring dance trends from every decade Jefferson has been open!
Over the years, Jefferson Elementary has been a model school featuring many of our district’s wonderful programs. Jefferson is home to Glendale Unified's largest transitional kindergarten program. In 2006, Jefferson first launched the “Armenian Heritage” language opportunity, which eventually grew into the district's Armenian dual language immersion program.
This year, Jefferson is one of five Glendale Unified elementary schools to become a community school, which will provide a wide range of supports for our students and families.
We look forward to seeing what our Jefferson students will accomplish in the next 100 years!
Glendale High School Celebrates Grand Opening of New UCLA Health Sound Body Sound Mind Spin Studio Glendale High School celebrated the launch of their new UCLA Health Sound Body Sound Mind spin studio today! The fitness center features state-of-the-art spin bikes, along with jump ropes, sand bells, and much more.
Glendale Unified is the first school district to partner with UCLA Health Sound Body Sound Mind on a districtwide scale. Sound Body Sound Mind has provided every GUSD middle and high school with a new fitness center and provides ongoing curriculum and professional development for our physical education teachers.
We thank our partners at UCLA Health Sound Body Sound Mind for helping our children develop healthy habits at a young age!
At-Home COVID-19 Test Kits Available for Students and Employees Stay safe and healthy during Thanksgiving break! At-home rapid Covid-19 testing kits are available for all students and employees at every Glendale Unified school site and our district office. We encourage all students and employees to test before returning from Thanksgiving break.
Important note about test kit expiration dates: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continues to extended the expiration dates for most at-home COVID-19 test kits. You can find more information on the FDA website.
Now Accepting Applications for GUSD Dual Language Immersion and Magnet Programs! We are proud to offer award-winning dual language immersion and magnet programs to students living in and outside Glendale Unified School District. Glendale Unified offers dual language immersion programs in Armenian, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish, beginning in kindergarten. Our magnet schools focus on STEAM, coding and computer science, visual and performing arts, and world languages. Please share this information with anyone who may be interested in applying!
Substance Abuse Prevention Town Hall Meeting Recording On November 8, Glendale Unified and Glendale Police Department hosted a special town hall event to share important information about the opioid crisis, the dangers of fentanyl, and how we can work together to prevent substance abuse. If you missed this special presentation, you can watch a recording on our website at www.gusd.net/SubstanceAbuse.
Update on Negotiations with Glendale Teachers Association Over the past year, members of the Glendale Unified and Glendale Teachers Association (GTA) bargaining teams have been meeting to negotiate wages and the terms of a new contract. The two teams have held 13 bargaining sessions and made progress on a number of items, including the following:
Increased stipend for special education, dual language immersion, and split grade level teachers, and other special education service providers
Increased stipend for teacher specialists
Increased stipend for elementary teacher/assistant to the principal
Increased hourly rate of pay for professional development instructors
Increased hourly rate of pay for categorical program instruction
Increased hourly rate of pay for attending professional development, planning for tutoring/ intervention
Increased stipend for National Board Certified Teachers and consulting teachers
Increased doctoral stipend
These stipends would take effect retroactively once the updated contract is accepted and approved.
Regarding wages, Glendale Unified offered a wage proposal that includes three separate compensation increases for GTA members: a 4.5% one-time compensation increase for the 2020-21 school year, a 3.5% ongoing raise retroactive to the 2021-22 school year, and a 5% ongoing raise in the current 2022-23 school year.
Glendale Unified has negotiated in good faith the issues raised by GTA leadership and has agreed to many of their requests. Several issues included in Glendale Unified’s original proposal in January have been rejected by GTA leadership without the offer of any counter-proposals. Glendale Unified has repeatedly modified its own proposals in attempts to reach agreement on important issues related to elementary campus safety and security, secondary teacher prep periods, and school-based voting procedures. You can find specific details about these important proposals here.
On November 10, GTA leadership informed their members and Glendale Unified that they declared an impasse in the negotiations. “Impasse” is a mechanism in the negotiations process by which a state-appointed mediator becomes involved in helping all parties reach an agreement. As a next step, a mediator will be assigned by the Public Employment Relations Board to assist in the mediation process.
As Glendale Unified strongly believes there is a good faith contract offer on the table, we look forward to the transparent review of the outstanding items by a mediator and are hopeful that this process will bring this nearly year-long negotiation to a swift close. Glendale Unified remains committed to continuing to work in good faith throughout the next steps of this process.
Vivian Ekchian, Ed.D.
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