BURBANK : Parents at School Oppose Transfers

Although Joaquin Miller Elementary School is seriously overcrowded, a survey shows that most parents would rather that the Burbank school district not transfer their children to another school, said Board of Education member Denise Lioy Wilcox on Monday.

“That’s what makes this all the more difficult, because everyone wants to be there,” Wilcox said.

A preliminary report on a survey of the 600 families with children attending Miller was presented to the board last week. Wilcox said 283 parents have returned the survey so far.

The board will face some tough decisions on how to solve elementary school overcrowding at a special meeting Oct. 28, Wilcox said. The district is considering shuffling students from Miller to Ralph Waldo Emerson Elementary, and transferring Emerson students to Thomas Jefferson Elementary.

Miller is the most overcrowded elementary school in the district. Designed for 350 students, it has 760. To deal with the overflow, the district has been using temporary classrooms and has been staggering classes for kindergartners.

The survey showed that only 16% of parents would voluntarily move their children to another school. The figure goes up to 21% if parents have the option of transferring their children to a specialized magnet school. However, the Burbank school district does not have such a program yet.

In addition, 71% of the parents said they were against solving the problem by making Miller a year-round school.