SANTA ANA : Building School at Mall to Be Discussed

Hundreds of residents are expected to attend a public hearing tonight to offer comments on a controversial plan to build a new fundamental intermediate school at a local shopping mall.

The plan, proposed by the Santa Ana Unified School District, calls for a $43-million “space-saver” school to be built on a 11-acre site at the rear of Bristol Market Place, at 17th and Bristol streets. The district Board of Trustees will consider the plan at tonight’s meeting.

The site for the proposed campus has drawn widespread criticism from residents who believe a school there would increase traffic, crime and noise in the area.

They also say a new school would better serve the community if built elsewhere, and charge that the district has failed to adequately investigate other sites.

Other residents support the plan as a way to alleviate overcrowding throughout the district, and hail the board’s recent decision to make the campus a fundamental school.

Fundamental schools, which are extremely popular with parents, combine traditional instructional programs with strict dress codes and behavioral rules and strong parental involvement.

The new 98,000-square-foot campus would accommodate 1,300 students from sixth through eighth grades, easing a space crunch at other intermediate schools, said Mike Vail, senior director of facilities.

Building new campuses is crucial, he added. By 2000, local intermediate schools will house about 5,000 more students than their designed capacities.

Even with the addition of the planned Raymond A. Villa Intermediate School and the space-saver campus, the number of intermediate students would still exceed designed capacities by about 2,400 students.

The state-funded project is designed as an innovative way to maximize the use of land, while ensuring that no businesses or homes are condemned to make room for the campus.

Because the project is intended to be a model for other districts statewide, it would receive funding priority and be built years earlier than would otherwise be possible, he said.

Tonight’s meeting will be held at 6:30 at Phillips Hall on the Rancho Santiago College campus, at 17th and Bristol streets.