City reaches out to disaster victims

Glendale officials on Tuesday expressed solidarity with the victims of the recent disasters in Japan, with the school board observing a moment of silence and honoring a group of Japanese exchange students.

“Our whole district extends our sympathies to you,” school board President Greg Krikorian told the group, which included a teacher and six students from Nisshin High School in Osaka, Japan.

The City Council on Tuesday also expressed condolences.

Students in the Verdugo Woodlands Elementary School Japanese dual-immersion language program performed several songs for the group at the Glendale Unified headquarters.

The Crescenta Valley High School baseball team is scheduled to take up a collection during a double-header Wednesday to benefit victims of the disaster in Japan. Crescenta Valley athletic trainer Junko Nakayama is a native of the southeastern Japanese city of Hachinohe, which was rocked by the 9.0- magnitude earthquake and a subsequent tsunami.

“She wasn’t able to [contact] her parents for a day or two,” Crescenta Valley High School baseball coach Phil Torres said. “But she has found them…and they are both OK.”

The money raised will be donated to the Red Cross and earmarked for Nakayama’s hometown, Torres said.

“It was just a chance for all of our students to teach out a little bit,” Torres said.