BREA : Student Transfer Plan to Be Discussed

A public hearing will be conducted today on the Brea-Olinda Unified School District’s proposed policy changes on student transfers.

The meeting is at 8:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers of the Brea Civic Center.

Beginning with the coming academic year, the Board of Education is proposing to ban intra-district transfers from Laurel and Olinda elementary schools.

School officials hope to increase Laurel’s enrollment from 285 currently to 400, and to keep Olinda’s at 200 students.

In addition, the district plans to enroll transfer students from other districts at Laurel, until the minimum of 400 students is reached, officials said.

The current policy, which allows students living in one school’s attendance area to go to a different school, has come under fire. The Parent Teacher Assn. at Laurel has blamed the policy for the low enrollment there.

During the current school year, 71 students who are supposed to go to Laurel are attending other schools, district records show.

Those students would not be required to enroll at Laurel next year, officials said. Rather, they may remain with their present schools, though their newly enrolled siblings would have to enroll at Laurel.

If parents want all siblings in the same school, they can send all their children to Laurel, officials said.