Tag Archives: Schools

Burbank Arts For All Thanks Donors After Gala

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The media capital of the world enjoyed another celebratory evening when Burbank Arts For All Foundation threw its second annual Party on the Plaza Gala extravaganza on Friday, April 26, 2013 at the Networks Garden Café Plaza. The evening brought in more than $150,000 benefiting the Burbank Arts For All Foundation, whose mission is to ensure a quality arts education for every Burbank student.

NBC4 Southern California Weathercaster, Fritz Coleman, served as the evening’s Master of Ceremonies to a sold out crowd of over 300 who were on hand to help honor Warren Stein (Chief Operating Officer of Deluxe), Peggy Flynn (Burbank Unified School District’s Visual and Performing Arts Coordinator) and Lisa Dyson (Parent/Volunteer) for their invaluable contributions to both the Foundation and arts education programs throughout Burbank public schools.

“With the generous support of our many sponsors and gala attendees, the evening surpassed our expectations and we wish to thank everyone who contributed to this worthy cause,” jointly stated Alexandra Helfrich and Craig Murray, Co-Chairs of Burbank Arts for All Foundation. “However, there is still a lot of work to be done in order to ensure that not only students in the classroom today… but future students as well…will be guaranteed a quality arts education.”

The Walt Disney Company’s Joan McCarthy and Telepictures Productions’ Bob Mohler were Gala Co-Chairs; and two-time Emmy-award nominee and star of “Glee,” Dot-Marie Jones, represented the Honorary Dinner Chairs who also included Tim Burton, Dick Cook, Don Hahn, Ron Howard, Garry Marshall and Melissa McCarthy. “Arts education is a vital component in all of our schools and it’s comforting to know that the Burbank Arts for All Foundation has our kids’ backs. The gala was not only a lot of fun…but really inspirational. In fact, I was so inspired…I actually auctioned myself off,” laughed Ms. Jones.

Burbank Arts For All Foundation’s Director of Development, Trena Pitchford, added, “Burbank is the best! With the support of all of our donors, guests and sponsors, the Foundation will be able to directly affect the lives of thousands of Burbank students in the coming year as well as contribute to the Foundation’s daily existence. We’ve just begun to share our impact on students and teachers and we have many more plans ahead for 2013 including our inspirational, one-of-a-kind Creative Circles Forums and engaging community gatherings. The invitation is open to join the movement!”

2013 Support Our Schools Award Competition Wants Your Vote

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Burbank Business Partners’ 2013 Support Our Schools Award competition, which launched last week, continues to foster community awareness
concerning the myriad programs and partnerships at the Burbank schools. The award is intended to provide essential recognition of the induring efforts made by teachers, parents, and community partners, as well as to generate further support of local schools.

BPPBBP has chosen eight finalists for the competition, each representing extraordinary efforts and collaborations across the city. All eight nominees are featured on BBP’s web site,  www.burbankbusinesspartners.com, which includes a video highlighting the many and varied ways in which the community – both businesses and individuals – can become more involved with local schools.

Members of the Burbank community are encouraged to participate in the contest by visiting the site, learning about each of the eight finalists, and voting for one to win the award. Voting is active now through March 31, and the winner will be announced on April 3.

Through its Support Our Schools Award competition, BBP extends to its surrounding community the unique opportunity to reward these outstanding achievements while coming together in support of Burbank schools.

Creative Arts Center Gallery to Host Youth Art Expo

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The City of Burbank Creative Arts Center Gallery and the Fine Arts Federation will host the annual Youth Art Expo. This annual exhibit represents student artwork (K – 12) from Burbank public and private schools.

YouthArt Expo April 2013The exhibit will be on display at the Creative Arts Center Gallery, 1100 West Clark Avenue, in Burbank from April 11 – 25. Opening reception and awards ceremony for Middle School and High School is on Thursday, April 11, 5:30 – 7:00 pm. Opening reception and awards ceremony for Elementary School is on Friday, April 12, 5:30 – 7:00 pm. Awards presentations for both events will be at 6:15 pm. Please contact the gallery for additional information.

The Creative Arts Center Gallery is located at 1100 West Clark Avenue, Burbank, California.  Gallery hours are Monday through Thursday 9:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m., Friday 9:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. and Saturday 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.  Gallery is closed on Sunday.  Please contact the Gallery at 818.238.5397 for additional information.

Dare I Say It: Merry Christmas

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Burbank Review


By Stan Lynch

At this most joyous time of the year, when everyone is supposed to be filled with the “spirit of Christmas,” I have to stop and wonder why there is this attack on Christmas.  And it’s not just Christmas. it is really an attack on our “American Culture” by liberals.

Whether it is that fool in the White House calling Christmas Trees “Holiday Trees” or the fact that we have to call Christmas Vacation “Winter Break” in our public schools, there seems to be an effort to eliminate the word “Christmas” from our vocabulary.   Is anyone, other than some liberal extremists, really offended by someone wishing them a Merry Christmas?  I doubt it. 

My friends of the Jewish faith don’t seem to be offended by it, and I certainly wouldn’t be offended if they wished me a happy Hanukah (or is it Chanukah. I’m never quite sure how to spell it.). I don’t find a menorah displayed in public as a threat to my own religious beliefs.  A manger scene isn’t a threat to anyone else’s belief’s either.

Let’s face it, Christmas in America is hardly just a religious holiday celebrated by Christians.  Our American customs have been borrowed from many different countries and cultures.  Christmas is about as secularized as a religious holiday can get.  If nothing else, it is an excuse to give gifts to our family and friends, and a great motivator to get kids to be on Santa’s Good List. 

So this morning when I took my granddaughter to Edison Elementary School, I put on my hat (not a Santa Hat) as chairman of the PTA’s sign committee, and set about my job of changing the message in the sign out in front of school.  It contains important information, like “Winter Break Begins Dec. 21,” and “School resumes Monday, Jan. 7.” 

As a joke, I told Principal Laura Flosi that since I could not put up “Merry Christmas” on the sign, I put up “Happy Birthday Jesus.”    After she recovered from the shock, I told her that I had actually put up “Happy New Year From Edison.” 

I wonder how long before some left-wing hate group decides that “Happy New Year” is as evil as Merry Christmas?  After all, some religions and cultures celebrate their new year at different times than we do in America.   So just in case, all of you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year while the politically correct nuts allow me to say it.

Space Shuttle Endeavor To Fly Over Burbank

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Burbank residents, along with others in Southern California, will have one last opportunity to view the Space Shuttle Endeavor flying through the sky on Friday morning.  It will be the last time a space shuttle will fly, ending a chapter in America’s space exploration program.

According to information from NASA, the shuttle will be over the greater Los Angeles area sometime between 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on Friday.  It will be riding atop a special Boeing 747 that has carried it from Florida to Los Angeles. The plane and shuttle are scheduled to land at 12 noon. at Los Angeles International Airport.  It was originally schedule to land at 11 a.m., but it’s take off time from Edwards Air Force Base was pushed back an hour to allow for fog to lift in San Francisco before the shuttle flies over that city, and Sacramento prior to coming to Los Angeles.

If the plane carrying the shuttle follows the route that was flown by two jet  trainers making a practice run on August 25, it will come into Burbank from the southeast out of Glendale, after flying by the Griffith Observatory, roughly following the Golden State Freeway, at 1,500 ft.  The two planes made a 90 degree left turn at approximately Magnolia Blvd. and headed west.  The shuttle is scheduled to fly over Universal Studios, so the assumption is that it will head there, before continuing on it’s route.  Although the exact route has not been released, the shuttle is supposed to fly over the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada-Flintridge, Disneyland, the Queen Mary and USS Iowa in Long Beach, it’s future home in Exposition Park, the Getty Museum, and the Hollywood Sign.

The flight path, if it follows the practice run, should have the shuttle flying over or nearby to several schools in Burbank, including McKinley, Disney, Edison, Roosevelt, and Stevenson Elementary Schools, Jordan Middle School, and John Burroughs High School. According to the Burbank Unified School District, school principals have been notified about the shuttle flight. It is uncertain if students will be allowed to go outside the classroom and view the shuttle.  Parents may want to call their child’s school and determine if students will be allowed to watch the shuttle flight.

After the shuttle lands at LAX, it will be housed in a United Airlines hanger, where it will be readied for the drive to it’s permanent home at the California Science Center.  That move will take place sometime in October.

The Show Must Go On For Burbank Ballerina

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Hannah Hart of Burbank will be performing in the Pacific Ballet Dance Theatre’s “Dance in the USA” tonight.  It is the culmination of over 15 years of dancing for the young ballerina, but it is a performance she almost didn’t get to make.

Hannah Hart

Originally from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Hannah began taking dance lessons when she was 3 years old.  She moved to Burbank with her mother and sisters in 2006, to pursue an acting career.   She heard about the Media City Dance Company (now Pacific Ballet Dance Theatre) from a friend, and began taking lessons there while attending middle school. Since then she has danced in several of their shows, including the Nutcracker, and Axis Mundi, where she was a demi-soloist.

Although dancing takes up much of her time, Hannah hasn’t neglect her school work.  In her senior year she took Honors English and Advanced Placement Biology, maintaining a 3.95 GPA.  The 18 year-old graduated from John Burroughs High School in May.  She is planning on majoring in Environmental Science in college.

Tonight’s show at the John Anson Ford Amphitheater in the Cahuenga Pass, has required many hours of practice in recent months. At one of those practice session in early June, Hannah felt something snap in her foot.  She had broken a bone.  The doctor prescribed a splint and crutches for the next six weeks.  It looked like Hannah might miss her final performance. but she is one dedicated dancer. She went to every rehearsal — on crutches.  She didn’t dance, but had to be content just watching others dance.  Not an easy thing for her to do.

“I almost started crying at that first rehearsal because I couldn’t dance,” said Hannah

Near the end of July, she got the doctor’s OK to dance again.  The rigorous schedule of rehearsals five times a week will all come to fruition at 8:30 p.m. tonight, when the curtain comes up for “Dance in the USA.”   It should be an exciting night for the young dancer, but she won’t have time to celebrate.

Early Saturday morning Hannah is leaving for college.  She and her mother, Bridget Barstow, will be driving up to San Francisco, where Hannah is enrolled as a freshman at the University of San Francisco.  Her dorm at the private college has a view of the Golden Gate Bridge.  It will be quite a change from the view she has of the Doughnut Hut on Magnolia Blvd. from her present home on Keystone St., where she lives with her mother, step-father Owen Keenan, and three younger sisters, Molly Hart, and Caroline and Bridget Keenan.

Although she is leaving behind her family, friends, and Pacific Ballet Dance Theatre, as she embarks on her college career, Hannah does plan to take some dance classes while she is in San Francisco. Ballerina, actress, environmental scientist — whichever career, or combination of careers, she chooses, I’m sure we have not heard the last from this talented young lady.

Ballerina Hannah Hart with the Pacific Ballet Dance Theatre will be among the poerformers in "Dance in the USA."

 

Back To School Time

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Yes, it is still the middle of summer and we are in the midst of a heat wave, but it’s “Back To School” time in Burbank.

At Thomas Edison Elementary School, students and parents lined up early Friday evening to get a first look at the classroom assignement that were just posted on the school's front door. (Photo by Stan Lynch)

Students will be returning to the classroom bright and early Monday morning.  It’s almost a month earlier than the tradition start of school, which a few years ago was a week after Labor Day.  The earlier start of school, which has been gradually moved up over the past few years, allows for the fall semester to end just prior to Christmas. It also results in the school year ending just prior to Memorial Day, rather than the traditional mid-June time.

The BUSD serves slightly over 15,000 students at 11 elementary schools, three middle schools, two comprehensive high school, one continuation high school, and two alternative schools.

“We are one of the few districts that isn’t seeing a decline in enrollment,” said Ted Bunch, vice president of the Board of Education, “Our student population has remained about the same as last year.”

Students in many of the Los Angeles Unified School District schools will return to the classroom on Tuesday, August 14.

Registration for classes at the Burbank Adult School is now open.  The various classes offered can be viewed on line at http://www.burbankusd.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=4859.  Adults can register on line at http://www.adultedreg.com/burbank/ or in person at the school, 3811 W. Allan Ave.

Cell Phone Towers – They’re Everywhere in Burbank – Here is the List

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On the City Council agenda tonight is the appeal for the Little White Chapel to have a cell phone antenna on their roof, changing site lines and raising the height of the building.

While the City Council can act on these measures and stop this cell tower, there are already over 100 cell phones antenna site facilities located throughout Burbank.  Most are on major streets, but still near residential aareas — and somre are just mere blocks away from schools.

We have obtained an official ‘unofficial’ list from the City of Burbank, noting  all the cell phone company sites throughout Burbank.

Many of these facilities have been in place for years.  After all, with all the people in Burbank that own cell phones and pads, there has to be numerous facilities that handle all of the information traveling wireless.

Residents Protest Potential Cell Tower to be Located at Church

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Residence near Little White Chapel hold 'Press Briefing' looking for support to protest the proposed Cell Phone Tower being installed across the street. (Photo by Ross A. Benson)

Thursday, May 17, parents of children attending Bret Harte Elementary School and Luther Burbank Middle School held a press conference to protest the construction of a 2000 watt T-Mobile cell phone antenna in their residence-only (R1) neighborhood.

The facility would be built on the roof of the Little White Chapel at 1711 North Avon Street, just 528 feet from Bret Harte Elementary School and 1,056 feet from Luther Burbank Middle School.

Residents claim the EMR Policy Institute recommends a safe “buffer zone” of 1,500 feet between wireless telecommunications facilities and nearby schools.  They content that installing an antenna so close to schools means the approximately 1,700 children who attend Bret Harte and Luther Burbank will be exposed to constant electromagnetic radiation.

Long-term radiation exposure has been linked to an increased risk of brain tumors, leukemia, suppressed immune function, and adverse cognitive functioning. Children are at greatest risk due to their thinner skulls and rapid rate of growth.

 

Residence near Little White Chapel hold 'Press Briefing' looking for support to protest the proposed Cell Phone Tower being installed across the street. (Photo by Ross A. Benson)

Residents Organizing to Fight Little White Chapel Cell Phone Antennea

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On May 22, 2012 at 6:00 p.m., Burbank  residents will fill City Hall in opposition to the construction of a proposed T-Mobile wireless telecommunications facility (WTF). The facility would be built on the roof of The Little White Chapel at 1711 North Avon Street, just 528 feet  away from Bret Harte Elementary School and 1,056 feet away from Luther  Burbank Middle School. At the meeting, council members will listen to  arguments from neighborhood residents and decide whether or not to uphold a  previous decision to approve the project made by the Burbank Planning Board.

Three separate appeals were filed in opposition to the proposed tower, and a grass-roots group of parents, property owners, educators, and neighbors has organized to solicit larger community support for the appeals. Residents are concerned about the constant emission of electromagnetic radiation from the tower and the potential for adverse health effects such as an increased risk for cancer. They also believe the tower would decrease property values, and that the generators and air conditioners needed to run the facility would create a nuisance. “We are not against cell towers,” says appellant, Laurie Huber. “We are simply for the safe and responsible placement of cell towers. Industrial commercial equipment does not belong in residential neighborhoods near homes and schools.”

In October 2011, the City of Burbank changed an ordinance to allow for the construction of WTFs in residence-only neighborhoods, as long as the facilities are built on properties for institutional use. “The revised ordinance threatens the character and integrity of R-1 neighborhoods,” states appellant Kathryn Merlo. “It changes Burbank’s best neighborhood assets like parks and schools into places that are detrimental to property value and quite possibly dangerous to children and residents.”

The proposed WTF at the Little White Chapel would be the first facility permitted under the new ordinance. Appellant Terry Bruse lives next door to the church. “This cell tower would be on all the time,” he says. “It will be less than 50 feet from my bedroom window. The noise from 24 hours of air conditioning running will be a constant nuisance. I feel let down by elected  officials.”

Appellant Roy Wiegand agrees. “I feel like the city and the church are selling us  out. This tower is precedent-setting. Because of the ordinance change, towers will be coming to all neighborhoods if we don’t stop it here. This is not just a fight for our neighborhood. It is a fight for all Burbank neighborhoods.”