NEWPORT BEACH : Trustees Consider Slaughterhouse Idea

Trustees of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District are considering a proposal for a privately run slaughterhouse at the Costa Mesa High School farm as a moneymaking venture to keep the farm operating.

The proposal, introduced last week by the Santa Ana-based biotechnical firm TranCel Corp., could raise about half the needed funds to run the farm. School officials have proposed closing the farm because of the district’s $3.6-million budget deficit.

The biotechnical firm proposed setting up a small-scale pig ranch at the school farm because it needs pigs for research it is conducting to help people with diabetes.

Since the company needs only part of the pig, the pancreas, company officials suggested that the district open a slaughterhouse there to let the students sell the rest of the animal for food.

The board will discuss the idea again at its next meeting this month and may vote on whether to eliminate the farm program or consider this and other options.

The proposal was voiced at the start of an emotional discussion of the farm issue last week, at which 50 parents and students filled the meeting room to support the program.

Since the district first proposed cutting the program two weeks ago, students have formed a committee to work to save the farm, and parents have formed a booster club to try to find more funding for the program.

“I’d like to see it continue,” said board member Roderick Mac Millian. “Perhaps we could work out a way to have it without being a strain on our budget.”

Typically, students in the school’s agricultural program sell the animals they raise to slaughterhouses, but this would allow an on-site operation and direct profit.

“Costa Mesa is so close to us. It’s so hard in this urban area to find a place,” said John D. Cole, vice president of operations for the company.

Cole said the company would buy the pigs and feed and would obtain all the necessary permits for the operation. The farm at Costa Mesa is the only one in the district and one of seven left in county schools.

The district spends about $90,000 annually to pay for its teacher and aides and some operation costs. Most of the students’ farm projects are profitable, with the students either keeping the money or putting it into new projects.

About a dozen parents and students spoke in favor of the program and the alternative education it offers children who grow up in an urban environment.

The boosters are trying to market the farm’s goods and have received pledges from local landscapers of orders totaling about $7,000 worth of plants from students at the farm, said booster member Donald Ragland.

One resident who lives near the farm on Fairview Road near the San Diego Freeway spoke against the farm, complaining of smell and noise from the animals.