By Eliza PARTIKA

The Glendale Unified School District (GUSD) Board of Education met on Aug. 11 for its first meeting of the 2026-27 school year. Among the items on the agenda were policy changes.

Kelly King, assistant superintendent of Educational Services, reminded parents and community members that the curriculum and bylaws are available for viewing on the District website. Changes were made to the bylaws including updating the student safety policies to comply with new law Senate Bill 848, reflecting a need to address student behavior and discipline in the classroom. The changes would add programs that allow for body safety classes and add language that addresses protecting teachers who are teaching in a classroom where a student presents with behavioral challenges.  King emphasized that parents would be able to opt their children out of the body safety classes just as they have the option to do with current student health and sexual health curriculum. She encouraged the community to reach out with any questions and to check the GUSD website for policy updates. It was agreed to come back to a future Board meeting with changes to the policy language in mind so the Board could further discuss and ratify the changes. 

Additionally, a discussion was held regarding salaries. In January 2026, Governor Gavin Newsom passed Assembly Bill 1390, which raised California School Board members’ maximum monthly stipend for the first time in 41 years. The bill allows Board members’ stipends to be raised between $600 and $4500 per month, depending on student enrollment, according to a July investigation by EdSource, a nonprofit, non-partisan journalism organization that focuses on K-12 education reporting. Pasadena and Burbank Unified approved raises as recently as last school year, but GUSD Board members did not feel comfortable increasing their salaries beyond what employees are paid. 

The GUSD contract contains guardrails limiting compensation to be no more than the lowest raise of a bargaining unit. 

Board member Dinkjian said stipends were “previously $400 a month, currently $1,200 a month” for their services. 

“I do want to prioritize staff and teachers,” she said. 

Cross suggested before the increase comes to a vote the Board revise the voting policy to have it documented in a public meeting when it does or does not approve of the raise. 

“If they have the right to see what we do approve of, they have the right to see when we don’t approve something,” she said. 

Farid also raised concerns about approving an increase. 

“The work we do takes an incredible amount of time and focus,” she said. “[It takes] the ability to work together with our staff and to be thoughtful in the decisions we make; however, I struggle with a universe where we are giving ourselves more than we are giving our employees.” 

The Board unanimously decided to table the discussion until its Board retreat, at which point a decision would be made that would be brought to the public at a future meeting. 

Cross closed the meeting by thanking community members for putting their trust in GUSD. 

“I am proud of our district and the people who work every day,” she said. “I love being a part of this community. I want to appreciate my board. We are moving in a direction together that I think is really powerful and incredible. That is really what we want to see – we want to continue to be reachable.”