Today’s Agenda

A place to shop and learn? That’s not how we usually think of malls. But that might be about to change. As school overcrowding increases up and down California, the state hopes a new “space-saver” concept will become a model that will ease the problem and save money at the same time.

The schools are built vertically, with several stories instead of taking up large areas with single-floor buildings. According to education officials, the idea behind them is to add schools without condemning private property in densely populated cities.

On Wednesday, the school board in Santa Ana will vote on whether to give the go-ahead with construction of a new “space-saver” intermediate school to be located at Bristol Market Place mall.

The state has earmarked $23 million to buy the Santa Ana property and has promised $20 million more to build the school and recreational facilities.

Janet R. Beales of the Reason Foundation says in Community Essay that Santa Ana is just one of several school districts in a number of states that have found innovative ways to relieve their infrastructure shortage (putting classrooms in office buildings and business parks) without capital costs.

The space-saver school model has strong backing from parents, teachers and educators in Santa Ana. But some businesses in the mall fear the students will be disruptive. And some residents of the area worry about the impact it will have on their neighborhood.

Gladys Hall-Kessler, president of Santa Ana Educators Assn., says, “I imagine that they are afraid the children will take off at lunch time and interfere with the shopping center.”

“But we’re going to make very sure that the children are on campus and can’t leave the campus as we do at all of our schools. We don’t have children running around the neighborhood during school hours.”

The growing Santa Ana district is badly in need of new classrooms, officials say. And another benefit of the space-saver school, says Hall-Kessler, is that it could be built in a short period of time rather than waiting “five or six years.”

Others, however, say that building the school in this particular mall would deny the city a huge source of revenue.

Says City Councilwoman Lisa Mills: “I support the space-saver concept. It’s a good opportunity for the schools to receive some funds to build much-needed schools in Santa Ana. I don’t support the particular location they’ve selected.”

Mills says the mall is the second-largest commercial property in the city of Santa Ana, and “I think it’s the second-highest revenue generating property for city government.”

She says that since no other district has come up with a plan that would meet state requirements, Santa Ana still has time to come up with alternative sites.

“What I’d like to do is sit down and work with the school district to explore another site that would not cost as much.”

In the meantime, the overcrowding continues.