Trustees to Consider New School Lineups

Students in the Orange Unified School District may be assigned new schools and some may start middle school at an earlier age if the school board follows recommendations received this week.

Two committees, one studying attendance boundaries and one looking at adding sixth grade to middle schools, submitted their findings Thursday to trustees.

The board will not take action on the potentially controversial matters until February, but the recommendations gave parents and trustees plenty to think about in the meantime.

Both concepts--new boundaries and bigger middle schools--will have to work in tandem, Planning Director Bill Flory said.

The boundary committee said the district should reopen Orange-Olive and Katella elementary schools as well as Vista del Rio Middle School to accommodate a growing student body.

By moving sixth graders to middle schools, which now include seventh and eighth grades, the elementary schools could further reduce class sizes, the committee report said.