Costs, Effects Under Study : Burbank Favors Middle-School Plan

Burbank School Board members say they are leaning toward establishing middle schools in the district, a plan that would create four-year high schools and elementary schools scaled back to kindergarten through fifth grade.

At a meeting Wednesday evening, the board asked school district officials to furnish more information on the cost and implications of such a proposal.

Board members, who are considering several proposals for reconfiguring Burbank schools, said that they did not at first favor a plan to close junior highs to save money.

District officials said they will complete a report on reconfiguration options early next year.

The district now has elementary schools, with pupils in kindergarten through sixth grade; junior high schools, with seventh through ninth grades, and high schools spanning 10th through 12th grades.

Wednesday’s meeting marked the first discussion of reconfiguration since a series of community hearings on the issue last month.

A board-appointed committee recommended in June that the district close as many as three schools and change to a system of four-year high schools. The panel said closing junior highs and realigning grades would raise the enrollment in the high schools, give students a wider class choice and provide smoother transition from elementary to high school.

The committee had been appointed to study the efficiency of the existing configuration in light of diminishing resources and enrollment. The committee also addressed the ethnic balance of the schools and suitability of three-year junior high schools.

The district’s enrollment has declined to about 11,000 from a peak of almost 17,000 in the 1950s.

Board member William S. Abbey said he believes that parents favor the four-year high schools and, to a lesser extent, having elementary schools cover only kindergarten to fifth grade.

Abbey and several other board members said they would like to investigate converting two of the junior highs to middle schools covering sixth through eighth grades.

“However, there are some concerns about the closing of schools,” Abbey said.

Abbey also said that a study should be done to determine if ninth-graders will be accommodated by “portable classrooms” or other means if they are transferred to high schools.

Board member Audrey P. Hanson said she wants district officials to examine the possibility of switching the district to a year-round schedule. She said the district would receive more state money with such a schedule.