Cramped, Crowded in Capistrano

Parents in the Capistrano schools will hear for the first time today what schools their children might attend in the fall when the district publicly releases its proposed boundary changes.

The changes are a contentious issue in the rapidly growing Capistrano Unified School District, where four new schools will open in the fall in an attempt to ease overcrowding. Some students already have been transferred once in the district’s effort to find space for all its students--and some parents are saying they won’t allow it to happen again.

After publicly revealing the new boundary proposals today, Supt. James A. Fleming will formally offer his recommendations to the board Jan. 10 and parents can offer their input at a public hearing Jan. 24. The school board is scheduled to make its final decision Feb. 14.

“I just remind myself continually that these are the good problems for a school district to have,” Trustee President Sheila Benecke said.

But four new campuses won’t solve the district’s space crunch. Capistrano Unified has grown more than 25% over the past five years, topping out at 42,196 students last year, according to the Orange County Department of Education. Last year more than 2,000 additional students arrived--a 5% increase, almost twice the countywide rate of 2.7%--enough to fill a sizable high school campus.

Crowding is such a concern that district officials decided to use some of the money raised in a local bond election last November toward the building costs of four future schools, in addition to the four opening in the fall. Already, some of the district’s recently opened schools were over capacity on their first day of operation.

But many parents say they don’t want to give up their current school’s legacy, staff and neighborhood location.

“It’s not the facility that matters,” San Juan Capistrano parent Mary Lind said. “I could care less whether my child goes to a new school or not. What I care about are the teachers and the students.”

For other parents, staying put is a matter of principle--and concern about too much change for their children.

Coto de Caza resident Marilyn Johnson said she already had to move her children from one campus to another in 1997 when a new school opened in the area.

“We were told we would not have to move again,” Johnson said. “We’ve paid our dues. We did that in good faith. The school district needs to show us good faith now.”

The schools slated to open in the fall are Don Juan Avila elementary and middle schools in Aliso Viejo, Tijeras Creek Elementary in Rancho Santa Margarita, and Kinoshita Elementary in San Juan Capistrano.

Some of the South County district’s rapid growth is fueled by the territory it encompasses, which include some of the last large tracts in the county to be developed--such as Aliso Viejo, Coto de Caza and Ladera.

Many parents are drawn to the area by the schools’ excellent academic reputation. In addition to high Stanford 9 and Advanced Placement scores, Capistrano Unified has received recognition for attention to computer literacy, and its internal testing program that monitors individual students’ growth.

The district has changed boundaries before, and faced opposition when five new schools were opened simultaneously in 1994, Benecke said.

“I really think you’ve got to look at the long run,” she said. “What none of us wants are crowded schools. We need to build more schools and that means someone must go into those schools.”