Bill to Merge 2 School Districts Assailed : Fullerton Officials See Shortfall in Yorba Linda-Placentia Union

Legislation aimed at merging two north Orange County school districts has fanned the flames of a longstanding educational civil war that had been smoldering for the past year.

A bill by Assemblyman John Lewis (R-Orange) to allow the Yorba Linda School District to be dissolved into the Placentia Unified School District--with both districts’ agreement--has been branded by Fullerton Union High School District officials as a “sneaky” attempt by Yorba Linda to secede from the Fullerton district.

Fullerton district Supt. Bob Martin said Tuesday that Lewis’ bill would have the same effect as a bill authorizing the secession that was shelved a year ago in the face of heavy opposition from Fullerton, which has jurisdiction over Yorba Linda’s high school students, even though all those students actually live in a territorial “island” within the boundaries of the Placentia district.

“The impact on the Fullerton Union High School District would be exactly the same as it was in the other bill,” Martin said. “At least one person has described this as a sneaky way to attempt to accomplish the same thing they (Yorba Linda officials) have been trying to accomplish for many years.”

Under the bill, voters in the Yorba Linda and Placentia districts could vote to merge their districts by dissolving the Yorba Linda administration and putting that district’s three elementary schools and one middle school under the Placentia umbrella. Yorba Linda students would still go to Fullerton district high schools.

Lewis said his bill makes sense because Yorba Linda is a “small island” within the larger Placentia district.

“Everyone seems to think the district would mesh very well, except people miles away (in Fullerton) who don’t have anything to do with this legislation,” Lewis said.

Martin said losing the nearly 800 Yorba Linda students now attending his schools would cost the district about $3 million a year in state funds, forcing the district to close one of its six high schools and lay off teachers and other staff.

But Yorba Linda Supt. Mary Ellen Blanton said the plan to eliminate her district would be more efficient and better for the district’s students than the current arrangement. She said Yorba Linda Middle School students could take a seven-period rather than a six-period schedule, and the students would be able to take advantage of music programs offered at Placentia, but not Yorba Linda.

In return, the Placentia district would be able to relieve overcrowding at its schools by taking advantage of extra space in Yorba Linda’s three elementary schools, Blanton said. Placentia Supt. Jim Fleming said his district also supports the bill.

“Why should these two school districts have all this duplication of services when it could be provided through one organization?” asked Blanton. “It doesn’t make sense when our people are ready and willing to do this.”

Under the merger, Blanton’s job as head of the smaller district would be eliminated. She said she would probably seek another superintendent’s job in another district rather than accept a middle-level job with Placentia.

“I wash windows and do floors very well too, so I could find a job elsewhere,” Blanton quipped.

But Fullerton officials aren’t laughing about the plan. Although the bill specifically states that Fullerton’s jurisdiction over the high school students from Yorba Linda would not be affected, Martin said he does not believe that such a setup--where students go to one unified district through eighth grade and then leave that district for high school--would ever be accepted by pupils and parents.

“There is no way the students are going to go to another school district when they have gone eight or nine years with their neighbors,” Martin said. “They will request transfers to the Placentia district. Some will just not register (with Fullerton). The bottom-line result will be the same. The people will be going to Placentia.”

Fullerton successfully fought a year ago to stop a bill by Sen. William Campbell (R-Hacienda Heights) that would have kept Yorba Linda alive as a district but allowed its students to go to Placentia rather than Fullerton high schools.