Placentia : Annexing of Yorba Linda School District Approved

The Placentia school board has voted unanimously to annex the Yorba Linda Elementary School District, a move that would mean the transfer of 900 Yorba Linda high school students to schools in Placentia that are closer to their homes. The plan now goes to the state for approval.

The board acted Tuesday on a proposal made in October by Yorba Linda school officials after a site that was planned for Yorba Linda’s first high school was sold by the Fullerton Unified School District. Yorba Linda’s teen-agers, still without a high school in their city, are bused 10 miles through two cities to Troy High School in Fullerton.

Yorba Linda has been in a 10-year legal fight against the Fullerton district and the state Board of Education. Fullerton does not want to lose the Yorba Linda high school students, who make up a little more than half of Troy’s student population and bring in $2 million in state money.

Fullerton district Supt. Robert C. Martin criticized the Placentia vote, yet Placentia school district officials say that El Dorado and Placentia high schools could absorb 900 more students easily and that most of them would be able to walk from their Yorba Linda homes, said John Perry, assistant superintendent.

As it is, 46% of all students in the Placentia Unified School District live in Yorba Linda, Perry said. The Placentia district also serves students living in parts of Anaheim and Brea, he said.

State Sen. William Campbell (R-Hacienda Heights) will introduce legislation dissolving Yorba Linda’s agreement with Fullerton and legalizing its annexation to Placentia if the three districts can’t settle on a plan, said Eric Carleson, a Campbell aide.

“Both cities are entirely in his district,” Carleson said. “He is in favor of supporting the goals of Yorba Linda and Placentia,” he said.