ORANGE COUNTY 1990 : Santa Ana Schools’ Present Foretells Future Problems For Neighboring Districts

While most Orange County schools brace for the 1990s, a preview of what’s in store for them is already unfolding in Santa Ana.

Crowded classrooms where students speak a babel of languages and dialects have long challenged educators in Orange County’s largest school district, and the tribulations that Santa Ana has weathered during the past 10 years are likely to be repeated in other districts during the ‘90s.

“We hopefully can be the pioneer in dealing with these issues,” said Santa Ana Unified School District Supt. Rudy M. Castruita, citing the district’s programs to educate non-English-speaking students and its vigorous campaign to build new schools and temporary classrooms.

Anaheim, Westminster and Garden Grove are among the districts expected to follow Santa Ana’s lead, becoming Orange County’s melting pots of the 1990s. In those districts, class sizes will increase and new campuses will be needed, as will programs for educating the ever-growing number of students who speak marginal English.

But while immigrants swell some districts, others, particularly in well-to-do areas such as Newport Beach and Huntington Beach, are expected to continue to face shrinking enrollment and declining funds, at least in the early part of the coming decade.

It’s a daunting combination of circumstances: “We’re going to have a decline of the haves and an increase of the have-nots,” said Anthony J. Dalessi, an assistant superintendent in Santa Ana.

While the good news for Huntington Beach is that recent declines in enrollment will taper off in the coming decade, the challenge is that the new students who help boost enrollment will need special programs, particularly English instruction.

“We obviously are going to be receiving a greater number of LEP (Limited English Proficient) students, which is going to be a big priority for us,” said David Hagen, an assistant superintendent in Huntington Beach. Asian students, including many Vietnamese refugees, are already the fastest-growing portion of Huntington Beach’s student population.

South County schools round out the picture, and there enrollment should increase rapidly as developers build up the area with mostly middle-class, single-family housing. In the Capistrano Unified School District, for instance, officials expect their enrollment to double within the next 15 years.

Like nearly all Orange County school districts, Capistrano will experience growth among LEP students, but most of its increase will come from middle-class whites, creating a different social dilemma.

“Some people already refer to this as the ‘gilded ghetto,’ ” Capistrano Supt. Jerome R. Thornsley said. “When our graduates leave here, they may not be ready for the ethnic diversity they encounter.”

As public schools survey the coming decade, their planning also is confounded by the fear that wealthy families may abandon public schools and turn increasingly to private schools.

“Whenever you’re in a declining enrollment situation, you’re in a position where you have to cut programs,” Hagen said. “If you cut programs, you’re always in danger of losing students who value those programs.”

All told, educators say, the 1990s promise to be a time of enormous opportunity for Orange County schools, and the decade will test their resources and ingenuity.

“We’re going to be hard-pressed for dollars, and schools are going to be bulging at the seams,” said William Habermehl, an assistant superintendent at the County Education Department. “People are going to expect more from their schools, and we’re going to have to deliver.”

Student Populations

Santa Ana Unified School District ‘78-’79: 27,990 ‘83-’84: 34,193 ‘88-’89: 42,846 ‘93-’94: 52,451 ‘98-’99: 60,701

County’s largest district will continue steady growth through the 1990s.

Huntington Beach Union High School District ‘78-’79: 21,193 ‘83-’84: 17,425 ‘88-’89: 13,685 ‘92-’93: 13,230

District population leveling at about 14,000 in the late ‘90s.

Capistrano Unified School District ‘73-’74: 10,774 ‘78-’79: 16,381 ‘83-’84: 17,172 ‘88-’89: 23,048

District population growing through the ‘90s doubling in about 15 years. Source: Santa Ana, Huntington Beach and Capistrano school districts