SANTA ANA : Trustees Restore Some Elective Classes

The school district Board of Education eagerly adopted a plan to partially restore the popular intermediate school elective classes that were eliminated last year because of budget cuts.

Last week, the governing board of the Santa Ana Unified School District approved a plan to offer students optional seventh-period courses, possibly covering topics such as geography, poetry, art, writing and nutrition.

The cost of the program will be $335,000, a fraction of the $1.8 million the district saved by eliminating seventh period, said spokeswoman Diane Thomas.

Facing a budget devastated by plummeting state funding, the board reluctantly agreed in 1992 to kill seventh-period classes, a move that dismayed parents and students as well as the five trustees who approved it.

“It’s a step we didn’t want to take, and we’ve been looking ever since for the funds to restore” the classes, said board President Richard C. Hernandez.

“Sometimes out of adversity comes opportunity,” he added, calling the new plan cost-effective, flexible and creative.

Each course will offer 30 hours of instruction, probably over a six-week period. Money to pay for the program will come from the district’s contingency fund, which is normally used to cover unusual or emergency expenses.

The program will serve about 10,000 students, said Joe Tafoya, assistant superintendent of secondary division.

“Obviously, it’s a risk to use our contingency funds, but it’s a risk worth taking,” said Trustee Robert W. Balen.

He added: “I think we’ve come up with a pretty good program here. I think it’s a very, very much needed program.”