State Funding to Be Used to Reduce Size of English Classes

The Glendale Unified School District will implement a state-funded program to reduce the size of all 10th-grade English classes to no more than 20 students in the spring semester.

The program will be funded by a $170,000 grant to the district for the 1990-91 school year, which was unanimously accepted Tuesday by the Board of Education.

The board directed administrators in December to discuss the probability that the program could be funded for only one year with groups such as the Glendale Teachers Assn.

“The state provided the money with an option of whether or not to accept it,” district spokesman Vic Pallos said. “The decision the board made was that if the money is there, let’s go for it.”

The program will provide an additional 27 classes among three of the district’s high schools. Crescent Valley, Glendale and Hoover high schools will participate in the program.

Daily High School, the district’s continuation school, does not have crowded English classes, district administrators said.

Under the program, the equivalent of five full-time teaching positions will be created.

Pallos said part of the staffing will be achieved by adding an extra course to the schedules of present instructors who volunteer to participate in the program.

Jim Gibson, administrator for secondary education, said the district is interviewing prospective instructors for the additional openings. But he said the exact mixture of existing teachers and new hires to staff the center is still being formulated.

The board accepted the program on condition that funding come solely from the state and not from the district.

“There will be no attempt by the board to provide funding for this program if the governor cuts it from the budget,” said Donald Empey, deputy superintendent of instruction.