TUSTIN : ‘School of Choice’ Approved by District

Tustin Memorial Elementary School, in danger of losing nearly half of its students next school year because of the opening of a new school in Tustin Ranch, has become the first “school of choice” in the Tustin Unified School District.

The school will be able to draw students from throughout the district to its specialized curriculum.

Trustees on Monday unanimously approved the plan to allow open enrollment in the fall at Tustin Memorial, and the implementing of a “traditional curriculum,” which will emphasize discipline and a strict homework policy.

The school will have a dress code, and parents will sign a contract requiring their involvement the education process at the school.

“It’s a different school, not a better or worse school,” Board President Jane Bauer said at the meeting. “I hope this is the beginning of different choices (of schools) for our parents.”

About 150 of Tustin Memorial’s 430 students live in Tustin Ranch, which next school year will have its own elementary school. Only about 85 students currently reside in the Tustin Memorial attendance boundary, with the rest bused from other areas in the city.

Bauer said that enrollment at the school has declined in recent years. The district had the option of closing down the school, changing the attendance boundaries, or to continue busing students from other attendance areas.

Marketing the school as a fundamental of school of choice was the most creative way to solve the enrollment problem, Bauer said.

Richelle Rowland, Tustin Memorial’s PTA and Site Council president, said that parents would like a fundamental school concept that is patterned after Greenville and John Muir elementary schools in Santa Ana, which both have won state honors for scholastic achievements.

“This is really special for us,” Rowland said. “We feel the school is being tailored to what we want.”