SCHOOL DISTRICT LOOKING BEYOND BOUNDARIES STUDENT POPULATION DECLINE A CONCERN.

Byline: Naush Boghossian Staff Writer

GLENDALE- To combat declining enrollment, the school district is considering changing its policy to allow students from outside Glendale to attend its public schools.

The school board has asked its staff to evaluate the status of interdistrict permits and to propose ways that students from other districts to enroll in Glendale schools.

``It's one possible way in which we can deal with declining enrollment, but ... there are certain questions, including, if we take any student, do we take every student,'' said board member Mary Boger.

``We have, in the past, allowed people who work for the district to bring kids to enroll, but we haven't been accepting those students because we haven't had enough space available. Now we do.''

Boger said in addition to opening the schools to kids of their employees, another option could be to open enrollment for students whose parents work in Glendale.

The district previously cut 23 teachers' positions because of declining enrollment - saving $1.5 million. It still faces a $3 million reduction in per-student state funding because of a drop in enrollment, officials said.

``What we've got to do is stop and think about how we can deal with this ongoing loss that will occur year after year, because our goal is to preserve programs for kids on our sites,'' Superintendent Michael Escalante said. Board President Greg Krikorian said he'd be willing to open the door a little - but only if there's room in the schools.

``The loss is cause for concern, but I'm not fully in support of opening up the floodgates ... but I would for city employees, law enforcement and fire personnel,'' he said.

Enrollment at the 28,800-student district is projected to drop by about 500 students for the next several years. By 2007-08, officials believe, the district will have about 27,500 students.

School officials believe the decline caused by the city's high housing prices pushing younger families to more affordable communities.

This year, three elementary schools shifted from year-round calendars to traditional summer vacation schedules.

Krikorian is confident that in the event they open enrollment to students from other cities, they would have no problems attracting interested families.

``Glendale is called Jewel City for a reason and one of those reasons is the public schools,'' he said. ``It would be a big attraction for people to send their kids to our schools.''

Naush Boghossian, [phone]

naush.boghossian(at)dailynews.com