GLENDALE : District Posts 1.5% Enrollment Gain

Higher than anticipated attendance at La Crescenta schools has helped push the Glendale Unified School District’s student enrollment population up 1.5% over last year, to 28,517.

“It’s a positive sign,” said district spokesman Vic Pallos. “If past trends continue . . . we expect to continue to grow by another 340 students or so.”

Early 1993-94 enrollment numbers from the district’s 26 elementary, middle school and senior high campuses and one adult continuation school in Glendale and La Crescenta were presented during a board meeting Tuesday night.

Dunsmore, Monte Vista and Mountain Avenue elementary schools in La Crescenta showed significant growth. For example, Monte Vista Elementary’s attendance reached 731--43 more students than projected. Rosemont Middle School in La Crescenta also recorded a growth spurt of 60 students more than the expected 986, Pallos said.

Board Vice President Sharon Beauchamp attributed the boom in the La Crescenta schools to an influx of new residents.

“The home buying up here has been a little better than down in Glendale,” said Beauchamp, also a La Crescenta resident.

Beauchamp and other district officials are optimistic that the current enrollment number would match the projected 28,857 by January. Attendance figures are important for each district because they are used by the state’s education department to determine school funding.