Burbank Unified School District

ENROLLMENT PROJECTIONS Trustees will hear a presentation about student enrollment projections for the next 10 years for the Burbank Unified School District. Recent figures have shown that the district?s enrollment has not declined as much as officials had anticipated, although Thursday?s presentation will be the first projections made for the district by a professional firm. A representative from DecisionInsite will give speak about his company?s findings. Enrollment projections and trends will factor heavily into officials?

Two camphor trees adjacent to the newly reconstructed Memorial Field that were slated for removal have gotten a reprieve. The City Council this week postponed signing off on an agreement with the school district for their removal, meaning the trees will likely stay for the next year, city parks officials said. Earlier this year, Burbank Unified School District officials warned that berries from the trees would stain the stadium's artificial-turf surface and the track. Though the stains would not harm the structure, the discoloration would not be covered by any warranty, and district officials said there is little money to spend on extra maintenance.

Families who are seeking to apply for free and reduced-price meals for their children can do so now through the Burbank Unified School District. Applications and instructions are currently being distributed to all households, and are also available at the principal's office at each school site. Applications must be completed and submitted to the school for processing. They are accepted at any time during the school year. Household size and criteria information is available on the district website at www.burbank.k12.ca.us.

Nine percent of Burbank Unified ninth-graders have carried a weapon to school, 5% of seventh-graders have smoked marijuana at least once, and 18% of 11th-graders have been drunk or high on campus, according to the recent California Healthy Kids Survey. Funded by the California Department of Education, the biennial survey is designed to gauge the health of a school site by assessing health-risk behaviors that hinder academic success. Self-reported data include grades, truancy, substance abuse, crime-related behavior and perceived safety at school.

Restaurants take over Thursday night The Taste of Downtown Burbank is taking over the North San Fernando Boulevard on Thursday, with organizers working to keep trash and waste at a minimum. From 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. celebrity guests, live entertainment and over 40 restaurants will light up the evening between East Magnolia Boulevard and East Orange Grove Avenue. Hosted by the Downtown Burbank Partnership, organizers say they want to reduce waste by 75% compared to the previous year with compostable and environmentally friendly eating utensils and recycling stations.

BURBANK — Burroughs High football Coach Keith Knoop realized his team would have to make do without a home field for the 2010 season. The coach was told the renovation project to construct a new stadium, running track and football field on the school's Memorial Field site would begin the first week of June. With his team being displaced for a project that would last past the 2010 campaign, Knoop and the Burroughs administrators had to schedule all the Indians' 10 home games on the road.

WEST BURBANK — A tentative agreement between the Burbank Unified School District and its teachers union will rescind all 67 teacher pink slips sent out earlier this year in exchange for six unpaid work furlough days for the 2010-11 school year, officials said. The furlough days will fall on three school days and three noninstructional days, and the agreement creates breathing room as district officials continue to address a structural deficit that leads to a projected bankruptcy by July 2012, said Gabe Soumakian, assistant superintendent for human resources.

When doctors diagnosed Mary Strauss with breast cancer 10 years ago, the retired bookkeeper was forced to confront a condition that for much of her life went unnamed. ?Growing up, we never talked about cancer,? said Strauss, 76, of La Cañada. ?It was the big C. You didn?t tell people you had the big C, this dreadful, terrible disease. Who tells people about a looming death sentence?? This weekend she joined more than 1,000 survivors, their supporters and people who lost loved ones to cancer at American Cancer Society Relay for Life events in La Crescenta and Burbank.

WEST BURBANK — A tentative agreement between the Burbank Unified School District and its teachers union will rescind all 67 teacher pink slips sent out earlier this year in exchange for six unpaid work furlough days for the 2010-11 school year, officials said. The furlough days will fall on three school days and three noninstructional days, and the agreement creates breathing room as district officials continue to try and address a structural deficit that leads to a projected bankruptcy by July 2012, said Gabe Soumakian, assistant superintendent for human resources.

When doctors 10 years ago diagnosed Mary Strauss with breast cancer, the retired bookkeeper was forced to confront a condition that for much of her life went unnamed. "Growing up, we never talked about cancer," said Strauss, 76, of La Cañada. "It was the big C. You didn't tell people you had the big C, this dreadful, terrible disease. Who tells people about a looming death sentence?" This weekend she joined more than 1,000 survivors, their supporters and people who lost loved ones to cancer at American Cancer Society Relay for Life events in La Crescenta and Burbank.

CITY HALL ? Burbank officials this week distributed funding to more than a dozen local nonprofits as part of an annual scrum for dollars exacerbated by a slow-moving economy and increased demand for services. The City Council on Tuesday unanimously voted to dispense roughly $200,000 to 18 public service projects. The annual awarding of state and federal dollars pits revered programs against each other in a process that requires an unusual level of give and take on the dais, officials said.