Santa Ana : 26 Speak Against Plan for Year-Round Schools

All 26 people who spoke at a public hearing on the Santa Ana Unified School District’s proposal to put six elementary schools on year-round status opposed the plan.

The district--which has experienced an average annual increase of 1,113 students in the last five years while other county areas have reported declining enrollments--is proposing that Adams, Hoover, Jefferson, Remington and Washington elementary schools go to year-round programs.

Supt. Ed Krass said that an additional 1,066 students are expected to enroll in each of the next five years and that about 1,300 students now attend classes in portable classrooms and trailers.

The school board is expected to decide the issue at its Jan. 14 meeting, according to public information officer Diane Thomas.

She said the board’s decision would be influenced by an $8-million allocation of redevelopment revenues given to the district by the city. “Monday night’s gift from the city opens up our options,” she added.

School officials have said that Santa Ana’s overcrowded conditions date back to a baby boom in the 1970s, plus heavy immigration from Mexico and Asia.

Krass suggested that the city’s redevelopment projects have had an impact on rising school enrollment. However, city officials said that Santa Ana’s total housing has declined slightly since 1984, while the population has risen.

Thomas said immigration has had the biggest impact on overcrowding, pointing out that 48% of the district’s students are classified as “limited English speaking,” a number that rises to 67% in the kindergarten through fifth-grade classes.

There are 40 different languages spoken by students in Santa Ana schools and the district must hire classroom aides to help teachers. “You just can’t crash-course a teacher in Khmer (a Southeast Asian dialect),” she said.