MISSION VIEJO : Teachers Moving Into New School

Teachers and staff started moving into the newly finished Lake Forest Elementary School on Wednesday, and construction will soon begin on yet another elementary school in the growing Saddleback Valley Unified School District.

On Tuesday, the district Board of Education certified the completion of the $5.2-million Lake Forest Elementary School and awarded a $5.9-million contract to the construction firm A.R. Willinger to build the new Trabuco Highlands Elementary School.

“We accept one (school) and start another,” Supt. Peter A. Hartman said.

The two new schools are part of a long-range plan to cope with a student population that is now at 26,000 students and is expected to grow to about 30,000 by the end of the decade, Hartman said. In the last two years alone, the district has grown by about 2,400 students, especially in the east and northeast parts of the district.

One other elementary school and one junior high school are now under construction, and another three elementary schools are slated to be built by the end of the century.

When Lake Forest Elementary School opens its doors to students this fall, officials expect that it will be filled to its 870-student capacity, said Mary Lou Smith, the district’s facilities planning specialist. Most of those students are already attending classes at Cordillera, De Portola and Montevideo schools, Smith said.

Trabuco Highlands will be designed for about 900 youngsters, Smith said.

Funds for the new schools come from state grants, developer fees paid to the district in exchange for rights to build homes and commercial properties, and through state Mello-Roos legislation, which sets up special homeowner tax districts to finance new schools.

When all of the construction is completed, the district will have 35 schools, plus three continuation, adult and special education centers.

In a related action Tuesday, the board authorized district officials to apply for state grant funds to build new classrooms, an auxiliary gym and a locker room at Trabuco Hills High School.