Glendale’s Community Newspaper
www.glendalestar.com
Vol. 77 No. 7
INSIDE
This Week
Glendale board to close, repurpose schools BY AYANNA MUHAMMAD Glendale Star Staff Writer
NEWS...............4 Mayor recovering from heart bypass surgery
February 11, 2021
The Glendale Elementary School District is tentatively planning to close or repurpose up to five schools by the end of the 2022-23 school year. The governing board read written comments and concerns from parents and faculty members during its meeting on Feb. 4. It also heard a two-phase timeline of closing, repurposing or changing the boundaries for schools. Phase one of the proposed closures will be during the 2021-22 school year. The board members said Isaac E. Imes and Melvin E. Sine elementary schools should
close during phase one. Students from Imes would be reassigned to either Glenn F. Burton, Glendale Landmark or Harold W. Smith. Sine students would go to either Burton or Horizon elementary schools. Phase two would occur during the 2022-23 school year and would close Coyote Ridge, Desert Garden and Bicentennial North elementary schools. Coyote Ridge and Desert Garden would be repurposed, and their students would be sent to either Discovery or Don Mensendick elementary schools or Challenger Middle School. Students from Bicentennial North would be sent to Bicentennial South or Mensendick.
Bicentennial South would turn to a K-8 model. The repurposed school could be used as a community-oriented service facility, like a preschool or a center for professional development. The proposed timeline was approved by the governing board, which has the right to stop school closures at any time. Parents and staff members were concerned about the potential closure of up to five schools during the pandemic. Most concerns highlighted the pandemic as a cause for the decrease in enrollment rates and believe that closing schools because of it will lead to SEE BOARD PAGE 4
Cactus League scrambles to resolve ticket sales BY GARETH KWOK
Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Madison Bumgarner practices during the 2020 Spring Training season, which was cut short. (Photo by Sarah Sachs/Arizona Diamondbacks)
Cronkite News
NEWS...............7 Glendale Fire Department offering COVID-19 kits
OPINION..................... 10 BUSINESS.................. 12 SPORTS ...................... 14 FEATURES.................. 16 YOUTH........................ 21 RELIGION ................... 22 CLASSIFIEDS ............. 24
With Major League Baseball pitchers and catchers expected to report in two weeks, Cactus League teams are scrambling to determine what Spring Training will look like for fans in 2021. The league announced it is preparing for an on-time start to Spring Training and opening day as originally scheduled after the Players Association rejected the league’s proposal to delay the start of both by a month. Some Cactus League teams have yet to offer Spring Training tickets for upcom-
ing games on their team websites, and a recording at Camelback Ranch, the home of the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Chi-
cago White Sox, said ticket sales “are undetermined at this time.” A link on the website allows fans to sign up for a wait list. Salt River Fields, the home of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies, aborted ticket sales just as they were about to go public. The Chicago Cubs did send an email to Sloan Park season ticket holders that said SEE TICKETS PAGE 3