BURBANK : 3 Glendale Students Were Going to Miller

After a massive search for illegal Glendale students suspected of crossing the border to attend Joaquin Miller Elementary School in Burbank, officials found the culprits: all three of them.

Meanwhile, Burbank school district officials are trying to find out what happened to about 70 other children who are missing from the rolls as a result of the district’s demand that all students at the school re-register to prove that they belong in Burbank schools.

To quell rumors that Glendale students were illegally attending Miller and worsening overcrowding at the school, the district forced parents to come in with their children and proof of residency.

Besides the three Glendale youngsters, five students were found who belong in schools elsewhere in the Burbank Unified School District. But whether the Glendale students had been deliberately going to the wrong school was something school officials did not know yet.

“I really can’t even speculate about that,” said Bob Fraser, director of elementary education.

The deadline to re-register was last week, and the 70 missing students apparently did not do so.

District officials have started to call their parents to find out why they did not register, said Fraser.

District officials had projected the school’s population to be at 847 students by October, but as of Tuesday, the total enrollment was only 761.

“We fully expect that gap to be lessened,” said David Aponik, assistant superintendent for personnel services. “I anticipate actual attendance will stabilize around 800 students in the next month or so.”