BALDWIN PARK UNIFIED: Maria L. Tarango, a...

BALDWIN PARK UNIFIED: Maria L. Tarango, a graduate of Baldwin Park High School, will return to the district as principal of Tracy Elementary School. Tarango holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Cal State L.A., attended Universidad Autonoma in Guadalajara, and has worked 15 years as a bilingual and resource teacher, assistant principal and principal in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

BASSETT UNIFIED: The school board will hold a series of workshops at school sites to explain next year’s budget and gather parents’ comments. The next meetings will be: Van Wig Elementary School 6 p.m. Wednesday; Edgewood Middle School, 6 p.m. March 30.

COVINA VALLEY UNIFIED: Construction has begun on Covina High School, the first of 14 Covina schools scheduled for modernization, including asbestos removal, new air conditioning, furniture, lab equipment and computers. Work will begin April 1 at Northview High School. The total budget is almost $20 million.

EL MONTE UNION: School officials hope to fund athletic facilities and other school improvements by installing six 50-by-50-foot billboards on school property along the Pomona Freeway, an investment they say could earn $600,000 in advertising profits over five years. No cigarette or alcohol ads would be allowed, and one billboard would be reserved for high school announcements. Construction would require changes in zoning and city ordinances.

GARVEY SCHOOL DISTRICT: Richard Garvey and Fern intermediate schools will have locked gates after a 13-year-old boy, a student at Garvey Intermediate, was shot at Ralph Waldo Emerson Elementary School last Wednesday. The school board will consider additional security measures for Garvey schools tonight. A community meeting on the incident will be held at Emerson at 9:30 a.m. Friday.

POMONA UNIFIED: Sixth-graders at Emerson Middle School who were dismayed by recent natural disasters designed a “HOPE” stamp (Helping Our People Everywhere), which would cost a cent more than a regular stamp. The extra penny would benefit disaster relief efforts. Students hope the U.S. Postal Service will adopt it.