School of Arts Is Poised to Move

The Orange County High School of the Arts is on the verge of leaving its home of 13 years and Monday district officials are expected to give their blessing.

Principal Ralph Opacic couldn’t be more thrilled.

During a workshop Monday, officials from the Los Alamitos Unified School District and the arts school will discuss the move, Opacic said. Trustees will vote on the revision of the articles and bylaws that will allow the high school to become a charter school and sever all ties with the district.

Before the end of the year, the school--a program focusing on dancing, music and the arts--will be moving to either Estancia High School in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District or to Santa Ana, Opacic said.

Several months ago, the beleaguered school lost its legal battle with the city of Los Alamitos over its plans to expand to a new campus.

Board members from the school’s nonprofit foundation are currently at the end of negotiations and will decide which location best suits the needs of the growing school.

The site in Santa Ana is located in the midtown area and the school would be housed in commercial buildings, Opacic said. One benefit would be the school’s proximity to freeways but more important, the school would have the freedom to expand as it wishes, Opacic said.

“We would be our own autonomous program,” Opacic said. “We would have complete control of the school culture and have an independent image.”

The downside would be the amount of work needed to basically rebuild a school from the ground up, he said.

Sharing space, teachers, an academic program and extracurricular activities with Los Alamitos High School was a bonus and a scenario that could be repeated to some extent with Estancia High School in Costa Mesa.

The high schools would share space and Estancia, which currently has 1,100 students, can accommodate as many as 2,400. The arts school has about 100 students now.

Ana Cholo-Tipton can be reached at (714) 966-5890