Board Postpones Reopening Red Hill School

Elementary school students designated to attend Red Hill Elementary School will have to wait one more year before attending the new campus.

The Tustin Unified School District voted recently to postpone the reopening of the school from this fall to September 2001 with reconstruction of the school to begin at the end of November or beginning of December.

The existing school, on 9.6 acres at 11911 Red Hill Ave. in North Tustin, needs to be entirely rebuilt because of health and safety hazards related to dry rot, termite infestation and mold.

The $6-million project will include 20 classrooms, an outdoor stage and lunch shelter and will be built in a style that will blend with the older neighborhood.

District spokesman Mark Eliot said the district is seeking state funding to cover half of the renovation costs.

“I think people are going to be really happy when they see it, and the wait will be well worth it,” said Ann Albertson, school board president. “Rather than just renovating an older school that has some problems, we are going to have a brand new school where we can build in modern innovations.”

The 38-year-old school was closed in 1982 and leased to various tenants until the school board voted to reopen it because of enrollment growth in the area.

Students who will attend Red Hill will primarily come from Barbara Benson and Arroyo elementary schools.

Overcrowding is particularly acute at Arroyo, which now provides several portable classrooms and may add one or two more next year before some students make the move to Red Hill. And at Benson, where enrollment is relatively steady, students are attending school outside their normal boundaries.

In 1997, when elementary school boundaries in the district were redrawn, officials anticipated the reopening of Red Hill and so will not have to redraw them again, as is usual when a new school opens.

Joyce Cleary, Arroyo PTA president, said the school board is making the right decision by reopening Red Hill.

“At this point, they had to do something about the overcrowding at Arroyo and Benson, and this seems to be a reasonable solution,” Cleary said.

Marissa Espino can be reached at (714) 966-5879