By Brittany Hanson/Garden Grove Journal
To bus or not to bus?
That was the question during the board comments section of Tuesday’s Garden Grove Unified School District board meeting.
Trustee Lan Nguyen brought up the non- agenda item of having a school bus filled with principals and top students in the district in the Tet parade down Bolsa Avenue.
The parade, on Jan. 28 in Westminster, has had members of the school board and staff in it and features many student and school groups from the district.
However, there is no official representation of the GGUSD as put together by staff.
“Well, I’ve never been in a parade,” said board vice president Bao Nguyen, “ I think I’d like that.”
However, the logistics of getting the people, paperwork and the bus itself together on such short notice would pose a problem, said superintendent Laura Schwalm.
“I for one, would love to showcase our buses. We have the great, brand new, natural liquid gas buses that are really great,” said president George West.
Board member Linda Reed said that even if there couldn’t be a bus filled with top students this year because of the time limit, it would be a good idea to get a head start on something similar for next year, as a way to reach out to the student community and give top grade or honor earners 15 minutes of fame.
“The parade really is well attended,” said Reed, “ and it really is an experience to be in it.”
Also, 150 intermediate school students in Orange County will be nominated as the lucky beneficiaries of the Pacific Symphony arts-X-press exploration program and hopefully, some of those students will be coming from the Garden Grove Unified School District.
Although the program is $675 in tuition per student who attends, the GGUSD school board voted to allow participating GGUSD students an automatic scholarship of $375, cutting the cost in half.
Arts-X-press is a full involvement program that allows participants to immerse themselves is performance, music and visual arts with the leadership of teachers, arts educators and artists.
According to www.pacificsymphony.org, “arts-X-press began with Music Director, Carl St.Clair’s passion for arts education. To honor the memory of his son Cole, Maestro St.Clair sought to establish an arts-based program having a lasting and major impact on the community, as well as making a real difference in the lives of young people.”
