FULLERTON : Boundary Change Redistributes Pupils

A junior high school built to handle 1,200 will come closer to capacity as the result of a boundary change in the Fullerton School District.

Nicholas Junior High School, in southwest Fullerton, will begin taking students from Valencia Park School, the Board of Trustees decided last week. As many as 100 Valencia children could attend Nicholas next fall; the junior high school had about 760 pupils this year.

Valencia is a feeder school for Parks Junior High School, which has become too crowded, Deputy Supt. Ron Cooper said. The board placed a cap for next year of 800 students at Parks, where 842 students now attend, Cooper said.

Not all of about 100 children in the sixth grade at Valencia must move on to Nicholas, since their parents could seek to transfer them to Parks. The board gave Valencia pupils priority for five years in transferring to Parks, Cooper said.

The board also gave $25,000 to Nicholas to plan for the increase. Nicholas Principal Mary Dalessi said the money will pay for her staff to study curriculum and program changes over the summer.

Nicholas was built to handle up to 1,200 pupils, and averaged about 1,100 during the 1960s, said Dalessi, who added that the school may grow to about 1,000 in 1994, as a result of the boundary change and the many children in grade school.

Dalessi said there is plenty of room at Nicholas, a school she proudly called “extremely diverse,” with a student body that speaks 16 languages.

“We have everything Fullerton has to offer, in great quantity, all in one spot,” Dalessi said.

Nicholas draws pupils from Golden Hill, Orangethorpe, Richman, Pacific Drive and Woodcrest elementary schools, Cooper said. He said Parks takes pupils from Fern Drive, Laguna Road, Sunset Lane and Valencia Park elementary schools.

Cooper said new housing and population growth created the need for the district boundary change.