High School’s Crowding Answer? College

In an effort to siphon some students from one of the most crowded schools in Orange County, the Capistrano Unified School District has set up an arrangement for its students to take some classes at Saddleback College during the academic year.

The arrangement also gives students access to some courses they might not otherwise have been able to take, as well as the chance to earn college credits and glimpse life after high school.

“South Orange County is growing like gangbusters,” said Jerilyn Chuman, dean of counseling services and special programs at Saddleback College. “The growth is outnumbering [schools’] ability to handle it. We welcome their students with open arms.”

The arrangement helps the community college by boosting enrollment, thereby increasing its state funding and allowing it to offer more courses.

Capistrano, the county’s third-largest school district, has grown 28% in the last five years, from 31,206 students in 1993-94 to 40,115 this year. The district’s most crowded school, Capistrano Valley High, has 2,767 students. It was designed to accommodate 2,075.

Last month, the Capistrano school board approved provisions for students to take a minimum of four classes a day at the high school and allow them to take the remaining one or two courses, tuition-free, at the college, said Patrick Levens, the district’s executive director of secondary instructional services.

Also in the works, Levens said, is approval of several “distance learning” classes at Saddleback, televised on Cox Cable’s Channel 39. This would allow high school kids to take some classes from home that are transferrable to the University of California and California State University, he said.

Students can take existing entry-level classes at the college to fulfill high school requirements and, in some cases, go on to take extra classes for future college credit. This helps alleviate a shortage of classes at the high school level, Chuman said.

“If, for example, there aren’t enough sections of calculus available at the high schools, they can come and take it here,” she said.

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About 100 students from the high school took a single course this academic year at Saddleback. Now the district is seeking to increase both the numbers of students and the numbers of courses they can take. In addition, it is allowing the students to commute between campuses next year. This year, students could take college classes offered only at the end of their day.

“The students that participate tend to be more able and ambitious,” Levens said. “They have direction, and seem to know where they want to go in life.”

While the program is geared mostly toward 11th- and 12th-graders, Levens said, exceptions can be made for younger students.

“If an aggressive student starts taking a class or two in the ninth grade, he or she can ostensibly graduate from high school with an A.A. degree,” Levens said.

While students from any district high school can take advantage of the program, the agreement is most likely to affect Capistrano Valley students, since the Saddleback campus is only one mile away. Students are responsible for their own transportation to and from the college and pay for their own books and other class materials. Still, it’s an advantage to parents, Levens said, since not having to pay per-credit tuition effectively gets their kids a low-cost college education.

Legislation allowing concurrent enrollment in high school and community college was passed in January 1997, and Capistrano schools started immediate negotiations with Saddleback College, Levens said.

Many districts throughout the state are teaming up with local colleges, said John Gilroy, legal counsel for the California Department of Education. The ultimate goal, he said, is educational enrichment for the students.

“A district can’t do something like this just to relieve overcrowding,” he said. “Ultimately, they have to prove that it’s good for the kids.”