Santa Ana School Trustees Vote to Make County Offer on Land

In a move to ensure that two plots of county-owned land in the city are used for new elementary schools and not jails, the Santa Ana Unified School District Board of Trustees voted Friday night to make the county an offer for the land.

During a special meeting, the trustees agreed to authorize action to acquire the land on Fruit Street and on the southwest corner of McFadden and Grand avenues, said Diane Thomas, the district’s public information officer.

School district officials had become concerned after learning that the two parcels were being considered for possible jail sites. Orange County, facing pressure to comply with a 1978 court order to end overcrowding at the jail, is seeking new sites for facilities to house inmates.

However, Santa Ana’s school population is growing, and school district officials are on the lookout for new school sites. Last Tuesday, for example, the board authorized an offer for the Bristol Street Baptist Church and approved the beginning of negotiations for acquiring a second site, the Christian and Missionary Alliance at 2120 Cypress Ave., Thomas said.

During a closed session Friday night, the board also decided to make a presentation on the district’s acquisition needs to the county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, Thomas said.

“The (school) board is very interested in protecting its interest in those locations,” Thomas said. The site on the southwest corner of McFadden and Grand, for example, is across the street from where a new high school is scheduled to open. “Even if we didn’t use it for an elementary school,” Thomas said, “is it appropriate to have a jail in front of a high school?”