By Isiah REYES

The Glendale Unified School District board of education meeting acknowledged students who won in various competitions as well as recognizing classified employees and retirees on Tuesday. The Sagebrush issue also was raised.

The 2014 Glendale High School dance team made history at the USA Nationals by taking first place in all five varsity divisions and, in addition, the JV squad also brought home a first place award.

“This senior class is really small, but the kindest group of family we’ve ever had at Glendale High,” said Glendale High School dance team coach Kelly Palmer. “It doesn’t necessarily mean the team with the highest skill set goes the furthest, but the team that worked the hardest.”

The Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority also recognized students from Glendale, Burbank and Pasadena Unified school districts who submitted original artwork for the Tower Banner competition, with the winning entries from each school district being displayed on the building facade.

The competition winner this year is Daniel Lee from Crescenta Valley High School. Other district finalists are Vardui Grigoryan from Clark Magnet High School (second place), and JJ Junha Yoon from Hoover High School (third place).

Public Relations manager for the Airport Authority Lucy Burghdorf presented the district with $3,000 to be used to award the winners with art supplies. Each participating high school will receive a share of the balance of the donation for support of their Visual Arts program.

Twenty schools from the district, including Clark Magnet and Crescenta Valley high schools, were among 2,099 schools in the state of California to be recognized by the California Business for Education Excellence for raising student achievement.

In addition, the US News and World Report ranked four of Glendale’s High Schools for considerably outperforming their state’s standards. Crescenta Valley High School earned a gold medal, while Clark Magnet, Glendale High and Hoover high schools each earned silver medals.

The board of education and the Personnel Commission presented Classified Recognition Awards to classified employees who, as of April 1, achieved an anniversary of 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 or 35 years of service with the Glendale Unified School District.

Aside from recognition and awards, the board also listened to speakers about the Sagebrush territory, the westernmost region of the city of La Cañada Flintridge, which falls within the GUSD district. The issue is about transferring the students in the Sagebrush area to LCUSD schools.

It is an issue that has been going on for years.

“We want our parents, residents and community leaders to be involved in this decision,” said Steve Pierce, president of the Crescenta Valley Chamber of Commerce. “We don’t want it to be a decision that’s made by just the board, superintendent and staff.”

Public meetings of the board of education are scheduled on the first and third Tuesdays of each month unless otherwise stated. Most regular meetings begin at 5 p.m. Special sessions are held as needed. The next meeting will be on May 20.

Most meetings convene in the Board Room of the Administration Center, 223 North Jackson St. in Glendale.

  Isiah REYES