SOUTH COUNTY : Boundary Line Plans for Schools Unveiled

Capping months of highly debated work, parents and educators have unveiled proposed attendance boundary lines to deal with the opening of Aliso Niguel High School and Aliso Viejo Middle School next year.

The proposals would mean major changes for many of the 7,545 high school students in the Capistrano Unified School District. District middle school students would be affected to a lesser extent.

Trustees will be considering different options to redraw boundaries for the three existing high schools in the district. A boundary committee composed of about 30 school officials and parents has come up with one set of options, while Supt. James A. Fleming has offered another set.

Under Fleming’s proposal, the following changes would be made:

* Aliso Niguel High School would open for ninth through 11th grades in the first year.

* Any 11th-grader affected by a boundary change would have the option of attending the new school or staying at his or her old school. Fleming said this would ease stress on older students who want to stay where they are. Some committee members, however, believe that most 11th-graders should be required to attend the new school, fearing that a lack of 11th-graders would cut down on advanced placement courses and athletic offerings.

* Younger siblings affected by a boundary change could stay at the same school as their older siblings.

* Marina Hills Drive would mark the boundary line between the new high school and Dana Hills High School. All incoming ninth- and 10th-graders living in Aliso Viejo and northern and central Laguna Niguel would attend the new school, which would open with 1,132 students.

* Students in the district’s northern section of Mission Viejo would have the option of attending the new high school because their parents are paying special taxes to build it. The students, however, could choose to remain at Capistrano Valley High School.

* About 76 students who live west of Interstate 5 in the Colinas de Capistrano area of Laguna Niguel would attend the new school, rather than Capistrano Valley High School.

* Any future high school students living near Ortega Highway and San Juan Creek Road in San Juan Capistrano would attend Dana Hills High School, rather than San Clemente High School. This change would mean that students at Marco F. Forster Middle School in San Juan Capistrano would only attend two different high schools, instead of three. All current high school students affected by this boundary change could opt to stay at San Clemente High School until they graduate.

The boundary committee, however, also presented other options, including one that would would require ninth-, 10th- and most 11th-graders in north Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, Coto de Caza and Dove Canyon to attend the new high school in Aliso Viejo. Fleming said he did not recommend such a boundary because of the great distance between the new school and those neighborhoods.

With the opening of Aliso Viejo Middle School expected next year, the following major changes have been proposed:

* Using Crown Valley Parkway, from Interstate 5 to Pacific Coast Highway, as a boundary between the new school and Niguel Hills Intermediate School. Except for 250 students who live in Rancho Niguel and near Pacific Island Drive, about 750 students who live in other areas north of Crown Valley Parkway would go to the new school.

A special meeting will be held tonight to receive public opinion on proposed boundary line options. The meeting will be at 7 p.m. at Marco F. Forster Middle School, 25601 Camino del Avion, in San Juan Capistrano.