Artistic Differences

They are some of the most talented artists in Southern California, yet they work without easels in a cramped room that once did duty as a custodian’s garage. The teacher props open the front door in a vain attempt to bring fresh air into the makeshift studio.

“It’s inadequate for painting,” said Debra Malschick, an art instructor at the Orange County High School of the Arts in Los Alamitos. “We do everything we can to make sure there is enough air in here, but sometimes the kids get headaches, and I think their parents are truly concerned.”

The painters are not alone in their search for breathing space at the nationally renowned arts school that is housed in any extra nooks and crannies that can be found at Los Alamitos High School.

Classical ballet dancers must take a bus to Cal State Long Beach to practice their steps en pointe. Musicians wait until science students clear out of the lecture hall before they can tune up. Modern dancers stop midway through their lessons to make way for incoming students and trot off to available space at a nearby middle school to finish their classes.

Growing pains have reached “a pivotal point,” said Ralph S. Opacic, director of the prestigious arts program that draws students from throughout Orange and Los Angeles counties and last year turned away nearly 600 applicants. But some say the school, now in its 12th year, may be a victim of its own success.

In no small part because of booming enrollment, founders are poised to build a gleaming $18-million complex for the program. In addition to traditional classrooms, it will include a 600-seat theater, a sunken orchestra pit, an animation laboratory, television control rooms, studios, an art gallery and a conference center that will be open to use by the community.

But the long-standing plans recently sparked a backlash from hundreds of local residents. Opponents persuaded the Los Alamitos City Council last week to consider legal action to halt the project.

That could mean the loss of up to $5 million in state matching funds for school construction under Prop. 1A, a voter-approved measure that sets aside money to modernize aging schools and build new ones. The application deadline for the competitive funding is Jan. 25.

Foes Cite Traffic Concerns

Opponents say the new complex, to be built on busy Bloomfield Street and tucked in between an elementary school and a middle school, will disrupt the community. There will be traffic gridlock, they fear, as parents drop off students each day. And those students who are old enough to drive will flood local streets, where parking is already a scarcity, opponents say.

Congestion near busy Katella Avenue, a main thoroughfare, is already intolerable, they add.

Residents are also concerned that students at the local elementary and middle schools may be in harm’s way because of the extra street traffic.

The award-winning school may have national and state politicians backing its expansion and boast that U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer calls it a model for the nation. But people who live near the proposed school site say none of that matters when it comes to the safety of their own children, who may be less gifted but are hardly less precious.

“Let Barbara Boxer come and drive Bloomfield with me every day,” said Joanne Ortiz, who lives near the proposed site. “Our children are in danger.”

The arts program, a “school-within-a-school” in the Los Alamitos Unified School District, has a number of success stories. It has sent students on to the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, designer clothing houses and animation studio jobs. Alumni have also made their mark on Broadway and Hollywood, performing in such features as “Beauty and the Beast,” “Hercules” and “Hook.”

After years of competing for space at Los Alamitos High School, supporters say, it’s time for the arts program to have a place all its own.

“We’ve tried to make the best of this situation,” said Nancy Melbourne, the school’s visual arts director. “Los Alamitos High School has had to adjust its schedules, and we’ve had to adjust ours. But it’s human nature to get testy. At some point you have to say, ‘Enough is enough.’ And this is that year.”

Supporters have been caught off guard by criticism of the artistic haven.

“I am an accountant, and it is clear to me that the city is being given an $18-million asset,” said Phil Boodman, chief financial officer for the program’s foundation, who termed opposition “shameful.”

City Council members find themselves in the middle.

“We all agree that [it’s] an outstanding program,” Mayor Marilynn M. Poe said at a recent hearing on the dispute that drew several hundred supporters and opponents. “That’s not up for debate. We are here to discuss whether this is the appropriate site.”

Immediately at issue is whether the project must undergo a lengthy analysis of how it will affect the local environment. District officials believe they are exempt from that requirement and say that traffic concerns can be addressed with traffic lights, driveway designs and other measures.

Council members will meet behind closed doors Wednesday to decide what, if any, legal action to take.

In the meantime, students at the Orange County High School of the Arts continue twirling, painting, drawing, acting, sculpting and hunching over computer animation screens, happily focused on their crafts and just glad to be there.

It started in 1987, just as schools across the state were slashing arts programs to balance their budgets. At the same time, the state was encouraging public schools to specialize and offer the kind of “choice” touted by advocates of school voucher systems.

Then a 26-year-old choir teacher at Los Alamitos High School, Opacic helped write a proposal for a three-year state grant to launch the program. Soon he had 120 students.

He wanted the school to give talented teenagers the training they need to perform in their chosen artistic fields, combined with the nuts-and-bolts learning needed to make it in a fiercely competitive business. For an added edge, the 60-member faculty includes talent agents, working artists and others who moonlight as guest teachers.

Six disciplines are offered: instrumental music, classical dance, musical theater, technical theater, the visual arts and commercial dance, ranging from jazz to tap to hip-hop.

One complaint voiced by nearly all students and teachers alike is that instruction time is lost because of the makeshift classroom conditions.

“It’s my biggest grievance,” said commercial dance director Jim Kolb.

Program Director Remains Optimistic

Still, he relishes what the program has to offer.

“These are the most talented students in the whole Orange County area,” he said proudly. “Out of 125 auditions, we accept 20. . . . You can tell if they have the passion for the art if they work the hardest. They’re the ones who break into a sweat first.”

Deanna Aquinaga, a 17-year-old senior in Kolb’s class, is one of the passionate.

Confident and poised, she talks as if her plans to perform on Broadway and become a producer are a given.

“I’ve learned to take risks, to let go,” she said of her training. “I’m more comfortable at auditions; I’m not an amateur anymore.”

As important as the technical training, Aquinaga said, is the coaching, the guidance.

“People like us need something like this,” she said of the program. “We’re different. We want to be here. We don’t have to deal with students who don’t care.”

A program with all the classes and academics and studios in one area would magnify that artistic spirit, supporters say. And, ideally, a larger program could offer exposure to the arts to other children in the district.

Opacic is optimistic. He faced a similar challenge in 1989 when state grants ran out. The school survived and flourished. This is just another challenge, he said.

“I’m confident that the same Orange County that built the Performing Arts Center will recognize the need for this program,” he said.

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Star Alumni

Now in it’s 12th year, the Orange County High School of the Arts has produced its share of successful alumni:

DANTE BASCO, class of 1992, played the part of Rufio, leader of the Lost Boys, alongside Dustin Hoffman and Robin Williams in the film “Hook.”

CHRISTOPHER BONNSTETTER, class of 1994, while working for Boss Film Studios, Inc., a visual effects house in Marina del Rey, created the plane crash scene in the film “Air Force One” using computer animation.

SUSAN EGAN, class of 1988, was the voice of Meg in the hit animated film “Hercules” and was nominated for a Tony Award after playing the first Belle in Broadway’s “Beauty and the Beast.”

RICHARD GRANT, class of 1989, played lead trumpet for “Jelly’s Last Jam” national tour.

JENNIFER MARTIN, class of 1989, is now a company dancer with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet.

Source: Orange County High School of the Arts

New Digs?

Plans for a new $18-million home for the Orange County High School of the Arts are in jeopardy as Los Alamitos officials consider suing the school district for failing to conduct adequate environmental impact studies at the proposed Bloomfield Street site.

Source: Orange County High School of the Arts