Fewer students enrolled in GUSD
Crescenta Valley High graduates toss their caps into the air during their commencement ceremony on June 3, 2015. Enrollment is slightly down across Glendale schools, but district officials are optimistic that enrollment will “grow slightly” in the next two to three years.
Though slightly down, enrollment in Glendale schools is higher this year than school officials had projected.
With 26,119 students currently enrolled across Glendale schools, there are 63 fewer students than were enrolled at the same time last year.
But school officials originally projected there would be 200 fewer students in schools this year compared to last.
In the middle school and high school grades, enrollment is down 288 students this year compared to the prior year – a “negative bubble” that Glendale school officials have been tracking for the last eight to 10 years.
However, between the transitional kindergarten grade, for the district’s youngest students, and the sixth grade, there are 225 more elementary students in Glendale schools compared to last year.
“In the next two or three years…we’re actually going to see our enrollment start to grow slightly,” said Robert McEntire, chief business and financial officer for Glendale Unified. “That is truly wonderful news.”
In all, there are 1,057 students this year attending Glendale schools who do not live within the district’s boundaries.
Of that amount, 631 of the students received permits to attend the district’s magnet schools or dual-language immersion programs. That number compares to the 254 students who had attained permits to attend those programs during the 2010-11 school year.
Another 426 students who are attending Glendale schools this year have a parent who works within the district’s boundaries, has a parent who is an employee of the school district, or the student attends an after-school child care program in Glendale.
Kelly King, assistant superintendent of Glendale Unified, said officials are looking to apply and receive grant funding to strengthen visual and arts programs at Hoover High School for students who begin their schooling at the Mark Keppel Visual & Performing Arts Magnet school across the street from Hoover.
As they strengthen those programs, and others, she said, officials also expect to receive more permits from parents looking to send their children to Glendale schools.
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Kelly Corrigan, kelly.corrigan@latimes.com
Twitter: @kellymcorrigan