Working in Santa Ana...Where to live? (Anaheim, Irvine: homes, buyer)

[Unkllars]

I would say Anaheim Hills as well and also say Yorba Linda. It is a beautiful area and you can get a brand new home on the golf course with that price and dimension, not to mention many resale homes you could steal. You can also watch the Disneyland fireworks from your patio or living room. It is a beautiful area worth considering if you want a more down to earth/small town feel. Now, about the children. Are they showing interest in certain areas that would need to be considered? One example, if they are in to performing arts, Huntington Beach is the best in the area. Brea has a pretty good journalism program. Let me know if you have any more specifics that could help in locating the best possible place for you!!

[missionhome]

Originally Posted by OC1017

Sorry, 28%. Student Teacher Ratio Capistrano Valley High School - Mission Viejo, California - CA. It has grown about 2% every school year in hispanic population since 1999. And the census tracts that serve the high school under the new boundaries range from 15%-35% hispanic, I doubt that it will drop to 10% since none of the census tracts in its boundaries are that low. And it is not 65% white, it is 61% and dropping fast. Estimates have shown that it may drop to 22% because South Mission has a substantial hispanic population of its own. Remember, interdistrict transfers will likely cause these numbers to change, because some hispanic students will still want to attend Capo Valley.

And I am not acting like an expert, but when someone calls a school bad because it is hispanic, I will step in and show that we dont know if there is even 1 hispanic student at SJHHS because no data has been released. And your right, I know nothing about the schools in south county, but I do know that there has been no data released about SJHHS, so when numbers start flying, I can tell you they are false right off the bat. Please make sure you state "estimate" when you speak about SJHHS.

And Great schools.net gives 4 high schools a 10 rating and 7 others a 9 rating in OC. Canyon is within those 11 in the 9/10 rating. And it was the 8th highest API high school last year (Canyon High School (Anaheim, California) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).


And calling Ladera the whitest community around is wrong too. Ladera Ranch, California - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The community is only 65% white-there are plenty of places with higher white populations than Ladera. It also brings in 13% of its own Hispanic population to SJHHS. Watch where you put the blame, San Juan Capo is not the root of all south county problems.

OK, look, I am not here to get in a huge argument with you. If you want to use your undocumented "census tracks" and get in an argument with a PTSA parent from CVHS who knows the parents on the ABC Committee that created the new district boundaries and took race into account and knows the predictions for each high school, go ahead. Honestly, I think the 10% was too low that they made in 2003 because the school is being fed 98% by Newhart Middle School now, which has a 14% Hispanic population. I think 16-18% is going to be the more realistic number, possibly even 20% as a over the top estimate. This is trivial stuff though, and if you want to think whatever you want to think from 20 miles away, go ahead, it doesn't affect us down here in Mission Viejo.

Also, I like how you can predict the ethnicity at CVHS in a few years, but you are unwilling to do so at SJHHS. Look, I don't care what the ethnicity is or the economical level of the students there. I know 21 people who had children at the high school and every single story was a nightmare. If the school had an API of 900, I still wouldn't recommend it, because it isn't worth the controversies going on at that school. Kids throwing food and a girl going to the hospital because a glass bottle hit her head at lunch, students crawling on top of the lunchtime proctors' golf cart and flipping it, a kid throwing someone off the stage in the theater, graffiti on every other wall of a brand new building, police being called out almost daily, a principal who resigned after a few months because he could not "handle the actions of the freshmen students", the assistant principal of discipline had the windows on her car broken out by students, intimidations to kids who go to the bathroom by bullies, and my friends' horror stories go on and on. If you want to recommend a school like this go ahead, but I felt like I was looking out for the best interest of the original poster because they were possibly going to put down 1.5 million dollars on living in a school boundary for a place with no academic track record and is having severe discipline problems.

If you want him to live in Ladera Ranch and send his kids to SJHHS go ahead and recommend it, but I was looking out for the poster because I came on here to inform and help people like him. I think I have done a nice job recommending areas to people, and I stick with South Orange County 95% of the time because I know it like the back of my hand. I can do stuff like help them with "Well, this neighborhood is more family oriented so I would move there" or "That street backs up to a sushi restaurant that plays loud music all night" or "That neighborhood is great because of its close access to most city shops" etc.... Remember the purpose of this forum is to help people. I don't really understand what your response was to mine in the first place other than you thought I was being racist for saying a fact, and that is kids are fighting over race at that school. Whites kids, Asian kids, Hispanic kids, etc... have all become separate groups that hate each other there and I think that is a dangerous environment for learning.

[OC1017]

Missionhome, you are a great person doing great things in bringing people to South County through this blog. You are not making over-sensational claims or anything like that. I simply got a little irritated when you said SJHHS would be bad because there would be a lot of hispanic students when you also said that people should be more accepting of hispanics and illegal immigrants and learn to assimilate into mexican culture in another thread. It threw me off because you were contradicting yourself in your statements. I do not discredit your knowledge of south county, but I know some facts because of public info, and that is a)SJHHS will likely not be 60% hispanic because the city of SJC is only 38% hispanic, b)CapoValley will not decrease to 10% hispanic because that is not consistent with surrounding demographics, and c)SJHHS has released no data yet, so there are no "facts" about dropout rates, transfer rates, and student ethnicities yet.

In April, check dataquest, they give a breakdown of ethnicities by grade. The ethnic composition of the 9th graders for this year will likely be the future ethinc breakdown of the CapoValley school (since the 9th graders reflect the new boundaries). That will settle a lot of things. But until then, it is not fair to tell a new resident all these "facts" when there are none about a school.

[missionhome]

But there is more to a school than just the facts and data. Any parent knows that a school could have great test scores but still not be a "good" school. Sure nobody knows the facts like ethnicities and stuff, but I am most afraid of the fights and stuff going on at SJHHS between races. I just want to make it clear, I don't think Hispanics are the problem, but all the kids of all walks of life fighting there. Capo has Hispanic students and the kids get along just fine and all together have a lot of school pride. One of my sons' favorite weeks is Multicultural week where they have fun break out assemblies on learning other cultures and at the end of the week have a big fair with food from over 25 different nations students at the school come from. Hopefully SJHHS can be like CVHS in a few years and be a loving and nurturing place for education where kids see past race. That is one of the things I love about having my kids go to CVHS is because they have learned to appreciate kids from all walks of life. They realize the Hispanic kid riding the bus home is just as good a person and no different than the blond girl driving home in a new BMW. SJHHS could be 100% white, 100% Hispanic, or 100% Asian for all I care and if problems like tipping a proctors golf cart, breaking in the assistant principals windows, etc... were occurring, then I still would not send my kids there. For now, the school has a discipline problem and that is something that doesn't show up on data. Part of what is great about the forums is you can get past "data" and find out real stuff like the culture of a school. Right now I just can't recommend SJHHS to a family because the culture of that school is not a loving and nurturing environment. From what I hear from my friends and from around town is that it is a culture of hate and separation. Sad, but I pray in the future SJHHS can have just as much school spirit and pride as the other 5 high schools in the district.

I think if we wanted to predict the future ethnicity of San Juan Hills, we should look at its main feeder middle school. Marco Forester Middle School in San Juan Capistrano is 55% Hispanic and 40% White. This is the main middle school feeding into SJHHS and then Ladera Middle School feeds in a slightly smaller amount. I think SJHHS is really close to 50-50 on race either way. I agree that 60% is probably overly optimistic, but that is what my friends think, although I think they are boiling over with frustration from there.


Glad to see we can get a long better.

[OC1017]

I am glad to see this kind of comment. It is a belief I share too, I dont think a school should be judged on race. Race is important, but not the only factor in making a school good or not. Sometimes, the whitest schools are awful (look at Corona Del Mar, Newport Harbor, Cypress, or Edison) and sometimes the least white schools are good (look at Tustin, Pacifica, and Western). Thanks for clarifying, I appreciate it.

[Unkllars]

Originally Posted by calihoopster

Relocation to Santa Ana....where would you buy for your family?

Priorities
Good schools...middle & high School
Commute 1 hr or less
3600+ Sq ft
1.5 million or less puchase price

Thanks!!!

PS Wife was looking at Codo de Cata and Ladera Ranch as possibilities

Just wanted to get back to the topic at hand.

[MV1234]

To all of you bashing SJHHS, you don't know what you are talking about.
As a MV resident, I could have sent my child to Capo or Tesoro, but instead I sent my blond-haired blue-eyed daughter to SJHHS. While South Orange county is mostly white upper-middle class, the world is not. (BTW, SJHHS is approximately 30% Hispanic, not 60%). No matter what the race, by going to a socio-economically diverse high school, my daughter is learning that happiness and sucess are not found in $200 designer jeans or a BMW for her 16th birthday. She sees students that have to work hard and haven't had everything handed to them. An important things for all the "teens of privledge" to learn (otherwise they end up like the kids on Real Housewives of OC and never live on their own). Despite what you may have heard, there is no more gang violence or drugs on this campus than any other high school. Take it from someone who actually knows this school. Lastly, the former principal did not quit because of the kids or the staff, he was offered a severance package from the CUSD School Board--a political back-stabbing group if there ever was one (but that is another story). Before you continue to bash SJHHS, go to a football game, watch the marching band, see a drama production and see the dedication and enthusiasm the students and staff have,

[Mach50]

Good for you MV1234!

Your comment:

While South Orange county is mostly white upper-middle class, the world is not.

Is absolutely right! I feel bad for some of these kids getting raised in a fantasy world here. Those kids surely won't be equipped for life.
There are lessons to be taught that don't always come from books.

[pootie562]

Originally Posted by OC1017

I am glad to see this kind of comment. It is a belief I share too, I dont think a school should be judged on race. Race is important, but not the only factor in making a school good or not. Sometimes, the whitest schools are awful (look at Corona Del Mar, Newport Harbor, Cypress, or Edison) and sometimes the least white schools are good (look at Tustin, Pacifica, and Western). Thanks for clarifying, I appreciate it.

The last time I checked Cypress and Pacifica were both great schools and the majority is White.

The api for Pacifica is 798 and Cypress is at 843 which is not bad at all.

BTW Pacifica has 57 percent white, 21 hispanic, and 17 percent asian, is that least white?

[Coldjensens]

If you are adventurous, look at floral Park in Santa Ana. Floral Park has some of the most beautiful hhomes in Orange County. Your kids could bike to teh Organge County High School of the Arts (which also has a middle school) one of the top ranked schools in all of Orange County for academics. You can walk to main place mall.

Some people are afraid of santa Ana. we lived there for 9 years while rasiging 5 children. We loved it. The public schools are mostly awful (but there are exceptions) and parts of the city are rough, but other parts are beautiful. It is one of the only cities with quaint historic neighborhoods and the only city with a true downtown. You could buy a mansion in Floral park for your price range and there are some remarkable homes there.

The downsides are that there are bad parts of the City as well as good parts. The freewat cuts through near floral park so there will be some background noise. The City is mostly Hispanic so if you have prejudice about living amongst hispanics, do not go there.


also look at Orange Park acres and Villa Park in Orange. Both have some fabulous deals in your price range and reasonably good public schools.