The GUSD Board of Education has scheduled a vote to confirm Dr. Darneika Watson as the next GUSD Superintendent of Schools. The Board is expected to take action on affirming Dr. Watson as Superintendent at their upcoming meeting on Tuesday, October 10.

Dr. Watson has served as the district’s interim superintendent since the previous superintendent, Dr. Vivian Ekchian, retired at the end of June. She has been the district’s Chief Human Resources and Operations Officer since 2020. As a dedicated academic and operational leader, Dr. Watson has served students, educators, and families across Los Angeles for more than 30 years. She spent 26 years with the Los Angeles Unified School District as a bilingual teacher and coordinator, school administrator, and executive director of district operations. Prior to coming to GUSD, Dr. Watson worked at the Los Angeles County Office of Education, providing operational support to the Inglewood Unified School District.

We continue to work closely with the Glendale Police Department and the City of Glendale to investigate and address the allegations of misconduct by a GUSD and city employee who served as a coach in the One Glendale After School Sports program at John Muir Elementary.

Most important right now is that any child impacted by this situation feels safe to come forward. I know this can be traumatic for our students and families, but it is imperative that GPD conduct a thorough investigation. If you have any information to share, I urge you to contact the GPD Assaults Bureau Detectives at 818-548-4840.

Mental health professionals from our Student Wellness Services department have been providing resources and support for students, employees, and families this week. Counseling will continue to be available for anyone who needs it. Please contact your school office if you would like to schedule an appointment with a counselor.

Our Student Wellness Services Department has also compiled resources to help you talk to your children at home:

• Video: Protect Yourself Rules 

• How to Talk with Kids About Personal Safety and Sexual Abuse

• Talking to Your Kids About Sexual Assault

The safety of our students is our highest priority. We will continue to provide as much information as we can and take every precaution to protect our students and employees. If you ever have questions or concerns, please contact your school or our district office.

GUSD is proud to celebrate Filipino American History Month every October and recognize the achievements of our Filipino community! Each month, the GUSD Teaching & Learning department compiles resources to share in our classrooms. Click here to check out the Filipino American History Month resources.

Thousands of Glendale Unified elementary students joined students from around the world for International Walk to School Day this week! Students walked along with their parents, teachers, district administrators and community leaders to demonstrate health and wellness and the benefits of walking to and from school.

We continue to be devastated by the atrocities taking place in Artsakh. On Tuesday, the GUSD Board of Education unanimously adopted a resolution, Standing in Solidarity with the People of Artsakh and Condemning Azerbaijan’s Genocidal Campaign. 

We know that many of our students, employees, and families are personally impacted by these traumatic events, and we are here to support you. In the coming weeks, GUSD is offering a webinar led by mental health experts, focused on processing trauma:

Presented in English with Armenian and Russian translation

Monday, October 9, 7:00-8:30 p.m.

Register at www.gusd.net/Oct9

Join our Equity, Access, and Family Engagement and Child Development & Child Care departments for a Family Academy webinar on Tuesday, October 12, at 5:30 p.m.

Topic | Everything I needed to learn I learned in Preschool. Preschool starts at 3! Come learn about the benefits of Early Learning.

Click here to register.

Join us for our upcoming Family Curriculum Nights to hear more about what your child learns at school. Parents will have an opportunity to hear from GUSD curriculum experts in English language arts, mathematics, science, and history/social studies and look through the curriculum and materials for each subject. Presentations will be in the Glendale Performing Arts Center auditorium and curriculum will be on display in the auditorium lobby. 

Presentation Details

Each hour-long program will include the following presentations from Teaching and Learning content experts (10 minutes per topic):

• English Language Arts
• Mathematics
• Science
• History/ Social Science
• How parents can access their child’s curriculum using Clever
• Moderated Q&A

Tuesday, October 17 - School Safety

Click here to register

Join Glendale Unified ¡Adelante, Latinos! for this year's Hispanic Heritage Month Speaker Series! Events will be held via Zoom every week during Hispanic Heritage Month. This year's theme is 

Latinos: Driving Prosperity, Power, and Progress in America.

Watch last week's speaker series presentation

Watch next week's speaker series presentation