Q & A

Jacqueline Price, Capistrano Unified School District

Jacqueline Price, Capistrano Unified School District’s director of legislative and public relations for more than 10 years, is leaving at the end of the month to accept a position as senior associate with Public Image Associates Inc., a consulting company that specializes in public relations for school districts and other educational institutions. Price spoke with Times correspondent Kimberly Brower about her tenure at Capistrano Unified, one of Orange County’s largest and fastest-growing school districts.

Q: How has the district changed in the last 10 years?

A: It’s doubled in size. . . . We’ve added over 14 new schools, we have a number of schools planned for the future and, if you look at the size of the school district and the plans of developers, you know that the enrollment is going to continue to increase well into the next century. That’s probably been the biggest change. We’re just so much bigger.

Q: What challenges has that growth brought?

A: It has affected the community’s image of the schools in that people many times are frustrated in the fact we don’t have all the schools that we need. It’s difficult to understand the planning process and the funding process to be able to build schools. Many people move here from other parts of the country, other parts of the world. They are frequently overwhelmed by the size of our schools, that we have over 1,000 children on some campuses, and they don’t understand why we can’t just build another school. The funding mechanism in other states is very different than in California, so it’s just not as easy. . . . It is a constant education process to make sure people moving in understand the challenges that we’re facing.

Q: Where do you see Capistrano Unified in the next 10 years?

A: I see it a lot bigger. I also see the school district continuing to shape itself based on the . . . needs of our customers. . . . That could take our schools in a direction that today we can’t even conceive. This is the kind of school district that works really hard to have its finger on the pulse of what our customers are saying they want and has never been afraid to go in those directions.

Q: What are you going to miss most?

A: This has been a wonderful place to work. It’s such a first-class operation. It’s a school district on the cutting edge. Missing all of the people here who have such creativity and energy and commitment to the cause and being surrounded by them every day will be an adjustment. From the moment I came here for my job interview in September of 1986, I walked away saying, ‘Gosh, this is really a great place to work.’ I’ve never felt otherwise.