Whittier

As part of a master plan to balance enrollments in the East Whittier City School District, the board of education has agreed to transfer about 75 Mulberry Elementary School students to nearby Orchard Dale Elementary School in 1986.

This is the first step toward correcting an enrollment imbalance at many of the district’s 12 campuses.

Mulberry is one of the schools where crowding is becoming a problem. Current enrollment at the kindergarten-through-fifth-grade school is 601, with capacity for about 670 students. The district estimates that enrollment there could hit 722 by the 1989-90 school year. The board agreed to shift the attendance boundaries, sending about 75 students from Mulberry to Orchard Dale beginning in September, 1986.

Mulberry parents who want to start sending their children to Orchard Dale in September, 1985, must register by Friday at Mulberry School, 14029 Mulberry Drive.

Orchard Dale has a current enrollment of 525, with a capacity for 852 students.

Early last month, a special task force recommended a major realignment of all attendance boundaries, but trustees postponed any decision on the master plan until July 1. And even then, Supt. Gary Mills has said the plan won’t be implemented until September, 1986, giving officials and parents a full year to assess its potential impact.

In recent years, a combination of declining enrollment in some schools and unexpected growth in others has left some campuses crowded and other half-empty.