BURBANK : Miller Students Must Re-Enroll for Fall

In an effort to quell a longstanding rumor that Glendale students are illegally attending the overcrowded school, all 800 students at Joaquin Miller Elementary will have to enroll again.

“I’m not sure that it’s true, but then again, I’m not sure that it’s not true,” said Elena Hubbell, president of the Burbank Unified School District board.

District officials were skeptical about the notion that students were illegally attending the Providencia Street school, because residency of kindergartners and new students has to be verified. However, they are taking the issue seriously.

“If a person lives in Glendale and is attending a Burbank school, under the laws we have, legally Glendale could send us a bill for loss of state aid,” Supt. Arthur Pierce said.

The Miller Elementary School, which was built with a capacity of 367 students, had an enrollment of 812 students in 1992-93. Temporary classrooms and split days for kindergartens have been used to accommodate the overcrowding.

Hubbell said the rumors about students illegally attending surfaced during a series of meetings last year at the school on whether to switch to a year-round schedule.

“I repeatedly heard parents say, ‘Why don’t we get rid of the kids who don’t belong?’ ” Hubbell said. But no one would give the district names of students suspected to be attending illegally, Hubbell said.

The issue was raised again during a board workshop meeting in June.

A schedule of four days for enrollment in late August and early September was released by Pierce at the school board meeting Thursday night.

Pierce, along with PTA volunteers and school board members, will help at the enrollment to be held Aug. 25 and 28, and Sept. 1 and 8 in the Miller School auditorium. Parents will be required to present a city utility bill from either July, August or September, their driver’s license or other photo identification, and their child’s birth certificate or passport.

Parents will be notified about the enrollment schedule by mail in English, Spanish and Armenian beginning Aug. 16. Those who ignore the notice will be informed by phone and again by mail that their children cannot go to Miller after Sept. 20 if they do not re-enroll.