Burbank : Board, Council to Discuss School Goals

School security, renovation and summer youth programs are on the agenda when the Burbank school board and City Council meet Thursday for the first time since the April elections.

“Hopefully, we can start off with a fresh new start and set some common goals,” said Elena Hubbell, named the new president of the Burbank Unified School District school board last week.

“I sure hope so,” said George Battey, who became the new mayor of Burbank on May 1.

The school board and the City Council meet about four times a year, but this is their first meeting since Dave Golonski, Susan Spanos and Vice Mayor Bill Wiggins were elected to the council and Joe Hooven and Denise Wilcox joined the school board.

“We all have different mandates from our people about what is needed,” Hubbell said. But renovating the district’s two high schools at an estimated cost of $90 million is an issue that both Hubbell and Battey agreed will be a priority.

Burbank and John Burroughs high schools, both dating to the 1920s, are in need of major renovations. The school board has named three advisory committees to study how the high schools should be rebuilt and how to fund the work.

Battey said he plans Thursday to propose an “action group” made up of school board and City Council members to take on the issue. The group might wait until the board committees finish their work, or take the lead if the process seems to be getting bogged down, Battey said.

“We need to move much faster on this matter than to have it continually referred to one more advisory committee,” Battey said. “We’ve been doing this for several years and nothing gets done.”

Battey said the city may help the school district pay for the renovation, which he added could also be financed with a bond issue, state funding or school resources.