Fundamental Schools to Be Topic of Survey

The school district will begin distributing survey questionnaires to parents of students and other people interested in giving their opinion of the district’s fundamental schools program in about a month, the school board said this week.

President Sal Mendoza and other board members of the Santa Ana Unified School District have expressed an interest in increasing the number of fundamental schools in the district from the current three.

But they agreed to first send out parent surveys.

Fundamental schools emphasize parent involvement, dress codes and patriotism, but officials acknowledge that many other district schools follow similar policies.

Fundamental schools have long waiting lists.

The school board reviewed and informally approved a draft survey at its Tuesday meeting.

Trustees Robert W. Balen and Audrey Yamagata-Noji, however, opposed the survey, saying that it was poorly worded and that no method had been established as to when to designate schools as fundamental.

The survey includes questions on the characteristics of fundamental schools, and whether parents would enroll their children in fundamental schools if more were available.