GLENDALE : Proposal Delayed on Cosmetology Cuts

A proposal aimed at making the Glendale Unified School District’s cosmetology education program more financially self-sufficient was put on hold Tuesday when about 50 students, teachers and parents pleaded with the school board not to shave the program.

Based at Glendale High School since 1937, the program offers high school students and adults certified training for the state cosmetology license examination. But school district officials said they have been warned by the Los Angeles County Regional Occupation Program--which has co-sponsored the cosmetology training since 1975--that the program costs too much and too many of its enrollees are adults rather than high school students.

“Our mission is to provide K-through-12 education, while this program has become an adult-education program,” said Michael Seaton, the district’s director of career education.

Currently, the program has 72 students, 52 of whom are adults, he said. Twenty are high school students from Glendale and surrounding school districts.

The cosmetology program costs $147,000 a year in salaries and supplies, $81,000 of which is paid by the county ROP. In recent years, the district has been applying all of the $64,000 it receives in discretionary funds from the ROP to make up the deficit.

But now county officials are demanding that the money be spent for its intended purposes, such as supplies, transportation and other expenses for all ROP career-training programs offered by the Glendale district, officials said.

To eliminate the shortfall in future years, district officials have proposed sending most adult cosmetology students to two private schools, one in Glendale, the other in Burbank.

Other than the location, officials said, little would change. The registration and lab fee of $40 per semester would remain intact, and students would still be able to accrue the 1,600 hours of class time needed to qualify for the state exam.

But students and teachers in the program said they fear that “Cos,” as they call it, would cease to exist as they know it.

“When I heard of (the cutbacks), I felt like something was being torn away from me,” said student Siloe Martinez. “My teachers are like my mentors. And what about the senior citizens who come? Some of them cannot afford to go to a beauty salon, that’s why they come to us.”

Martha Busby, the program’s director, said Glendale’s is one of only two publicly run cosmetology programs in the state and is widely recognized for its excellence. She said the program has a 100% job-placement rate for its graduates and provides career opportunities for students who cannot afford to attend private beauty colleges, where tuition can cost thousands of dollars.

District officials said they do not question the quality of the program but it may be unfair to continue funding the “very costly” program at the expense of others.

The school board has scheduled a meeting for 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Board of Education building, 223 N. Jackson St., to discuss the future of the cosmetology program.