School Border Dispute Grows

Steve Gross lives in one of those rare places, a close-knit neighborhood of Southern California. In his little part of Laguna Niguel, called the Wedge, the parents trust and help each other out, and their kids grow up close friends from the days of diapers to the pains of braces to the thrill of a driver’s license.

But Gross and his neighbors, and residents of several other Laguna Niguel neighborhoods, now fear their community may be ripped apart--and by their school district, of all things.

“My daughter and the kids she grew up with since birth would all end up in different high schools,” said Gross, a Laguna Niguel resident for 13 years. “All these kids have grown up together, and then an arbitrary decision from the district comes down to split up the neighborhood. There’s just something wrong with that.”

At issue is Tesoro High School, the newest campus in the Capistrano Unified School District, set to open this fall in the Ladera Ranch area. Opening a new high school means the district can transfer some students from campuses that have been overcrowded for years; but it also means a complex set of options for changing attendance boundaries and redirecting students.

The most controversial plan--the one that upsets neighbors in Laguna Niguel--would move students from Dana Hills High to either Capistrano Valley or Aliso Niguel high schools. In some cases, it would mean that students who live on the same block could attend any of three high schools.

School officials say the changes are needed to correct overcrowding at existing schools caused by the region’s supercharged growth.

Gross, 41, likes his cozy neighborhood so much that instead of moving his family to San Francisco, where he works as a software sales executive, he flies back and forth every week.

The Wedge is a quiet, older neighborhood with pine trees and modest stucco homes. Gross’ daughter Rachel, 12, grew up with eight other seventh-graders on her block. They go bowling, trick-or-treating on Halloween, have slumber parties and carpool to school. Their families take group vacations, have block parties, spend New Year’s Eve together and send meals to bereaved neighbors.

Gross is one of many parents who object to sending their children to rival high schools. Some parents have submitted two more boundary plans that would leave all Dana Hills High School students in place.

In addition, more than 150 Laguna Niguel residents have brought their boundary concerns to this month’s City Council meeting and collected 500 signatures supporting alternatives that also leave all students at Dana Hills High School.

“The parents are concerned and the council is concerned that the students don’t get split up into three different high schools,” said Cathryn DeYoung, mayor of Laguna Niguel, who said her office has been flooded with calls.

“One of the primary reasons people buy homes in a particular school area is because they researched the subject carefully to obtain the educational and social atmosphere they want for their children,” said Judy Whitelock, a Laguna Niguel real estate agent whose children graduated from Dana Hills High School. “The school is a primary focus point for families.”

James A. Fleming, superintendent of the Capistrano Unified School District, said part of the problem in creating new attendance boundaries is his district’s rapid growth.

“I told the board last summer that this will be one of the most difficult years they’ll have,” Fleming said. “We’re talking about large-scale changes. And people really identify with their high schools.”

During the nine years he has led the 45,000-student district, he’s opened 21 schools--and has plans to open more, including a sixth high school in a few years. In planning current boundaries, he said, the district is trying to take the future into account.

“We want our high schools to have around 2,000 to 2,200 students each,” Fleming said. “Capistrano Valley is over 3,000, and that’s obscene. It will get extreme relief with Tesoro.”

Parents remain concerned about the proposed changes, and many want Laguna Niguel to have its own high school.

“All the studies show that if you want to raise good citizens, you keep kids together as a unit,” said Gross of Laguna Niguel. “You want to keep that unit going to school together. It’s important to the kids to know what path they are on.”

Fleming said that he’s open to suggestions for placement of the sixth high school; the district hasn’t yet bought the land for it.

“I’d be happy to recommend a high school smack dab in the middle of Laguna Niguel,” Fleming said. “All we need is 45 to 50 usable acres.”

Fleming said he and the board are trying to balance parental concerns about keeping neighborhood children together with the need to redistribute students to alleviate crowding.

“I absolutely think we need more schools,” said Darnelle Perez, opportunity assistant at Dana Hills, whose 11-year-old daughter wants to attend the high school. “Shoveling people around is not the answer. Let’s face it, in my eyes, one school is better than another and I don’t want my kid taken out of the school she was supposed to go to originally and put into a lesser school.”

Fleming said no child will be asked to leave the school at which they’re currently enrolled. In addition, any younger sibling who would attend that school concurrently also may finish there.

But that doesn’t help neighborhoods with middle school students about to head off to different high schools, or families with much younger siblings.

“We have a lot of families with siblings, and they follow in their brothers’ and sisters’ footsteps,” said Perez, who lives in another tightly knit Laguna Niguel neighborhood. “It means a lot. They should be able to follow in that tradition. What else are they going to take away from us? We only have a few things left to hold onto as families.”

The public hearing about proposed boundary issues is scheduled for 6 p.m. tonight in the theater of Aliso Niguel High School, 28000 Terrace View Road, Aliso Viejo. Parents who wish to speak on the options should call (949) 489-7459.

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Capo’s Battle Lines Drawn

Source: Capistrano Unified School District