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Orientation welcomes new BUSD teachers

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When Burbank Unified welcomes back students from their summer breaks on Monday, Eli Aghassi will start the year as one of more than 50 teachers who are new to the district.

He can already sense something special about Burbank High, where he’ll teach chemistry and physics.

“There’s a lot of community there, I can already tell,” he said.

Aghassi was one of dozens of educators who participated in a new teacher orientation Thursday morning at the Castaway restaurant, where veteran Burbank teachers introduced them to district officials and raffled off Target gift cards.

In all, there are 52 new teachers across Burbank’s 20 schools, and while some have come to Burbank from other school districts, others are just starting their teaching career.

With a passion in marine science, Aghassi comes to Burbank Unified after spending a year teaching at Math and Science College Preparatory in Los Angeles, and he said he’s looking forward to meeting the students who will be in his classroom as the school year gets underway.

“I’ve heard great things about the students at Burbank High School,” he said.

Burbank Teachers Assn. President Diana Abasta told the teachers on Thursday that they belong to a school district filled with committed educators, ones who stay at school into the evening or show up at school on a Sunday to prepare their room for the upcoming week.

“This is the caliber of teachers that we have in this district,” Abasta said.

In addition to hiring new teachers, Burbank school officials have spent the last few months bringing on new classified employees to support the technology, facilities, accounting and food service teams, or to work as clerical staff, coaches, or instructional assistants.

“Our teachers, students and staff depend heavily on our classified workforce,” said Anita Schackmann, director of human resources for Burbank Unified, who described the group as the “backbone” of the district.

Also attending the orientation was Supt. Matt Hill, who encouraged the new teachers to text him, email him or drop by his office any time.

“I have a very open-door policy,” he said.

The new school year marks Hill’s second as Burbank Unified’s chief.

“Burbank is a special place,” he told the educators. “We do come together as family.”

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Kelly Corrigan, kelly.corrigan@latimes.com

Twitter: @kellymcorrigan

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