OC School Budget Cuts for Future OC Residents (Mission Viejo, Lakewood: theater, school district)

[Donna7]

Originally Posted by missionhome

Update with BETTER news:
OC school districts have received more funding to help them save many teachers. As many on this thread predicted, the money did come from somewhere, most likely due to all the protests.

Capistrano Unified: 265 teachers have regained their jobs for next year and the class size reduction program is saved, a huge deal for parents of elementary age kids. K-3 class sizes should remain around 20. The district still needs to cut 16 million so stuff like the bus routes are gone (going from 70+ to only 16).

Saddleback Valley Unified: Currently working on a plan that should bring back all 186 teachers with notices. IB program at the four high schools is spared, music still may go and buses are gone.

Santa Ana Unified: Has brought back 180 or 500+ teachers that got notices and is working on more.

Fullerton Elementary District: Bringing back the 65 temporary teachers

HB City Elementary District: Brining back the 25 temporary teachers.

So, the total amount of teachers that have notices in the county has gone from 1, 739 to 1,339. Hopefully these three districts start and trend and the rest of OC's districts can bring back their teachers also.

Really GREAT news! Thank you for the update.

[Laurmela]

Just an update for Saddleback,

6th grade instrumental music is saved as well as the fact that none of the Intermediate or High School teachers that were rifed will actually loose there jobs. In fact they were rescinded (sp)! So that is good news and the music programs at the high schools can now get to work on their shows for the fall!

Music doesn't end in June, it is a 12 month program!

Toodles,

Laura

[bhcompy]

all things considered, why are some districts cutting all these teachers and why are others not cutting anyone? they all get the same amount of money per student. sounds like some poor money management going on

[missionhome]

Well, CUSD is notorious for mismanagement of funds (Can I point to that Administration Building...) so this definitely has something to do with our lovely school board I don't know why some cut more than others, but not all school boards are created equal.

[Charles]

"The closures of La Tierra Elementary and O'Neill Elementary – about 2.5 miles apart in western Mission Viejo – would displace about 640 children, but save the cash-strapped Saddleback Valley Unified School District an estimated $900,000 annually...."

from

Saddleback trustees to weigh school closures | saddleback, school, district, elementary, children - News - OCRegister.com

Bummer, these schools are pretty good:

La Tierra Elementary (10, 858)
O'Neill Elementary (9, 872)

[bhcompy]

only 320 kids per school is pretty light though

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Charles

"The closures of La Tierra Elementary and O'Neill Elementary – about 2.5 miles apart in western Mission Viejo – would displace about 640 children, but save the cash-strapped Saddleback Valley Unified School District an estimated $900,000 annually...."

from

Saddleback trustees to weigh school closures | saddleback, school, district, elementary, children - News - OCRegister.com

Bummer, these schools are pretty good:

La Tierra Elementary (10, 858)
O'Neill Elementary (9, 872)

Does anyone have a feel for the neighborhood? Does it appear the demographics have changed and there are less and less elementary school aged kids there? How old are the homes? If they are like 15 years old then maybe that's what is happening.

In Oak Park in Ventura County all these good schools were built and kids attended but those kids are grown up and the density of elementary aged kids is so low that Oak Park is trying to import kids from other districts.

I'm sure the SUSD has considered adjusting boundaries around to avoid closing but maybe that just didn't work - there weren't any overcrowded schools to pull from for example.

[missionhome]

Originally Posted by Charles

Does anyone have a feel for the neighborhood? Does it appear the demographics have changed and there are less and less elementary school aged kids there? How old are the homes? If they are like 15 years old then maybe that's what is happening.

In Oak Park in Ventura County all these good schools were built and kids attended but those kids are grown up and the density of elementary aged kids is so low that Oak Park is trying to import kids from other districts.

I'm sure the SUSD has considered adjusting boundaries around to avoid closing but maybe that just didn't work - there weren't any overcrowded schools to pull from for example.

Oneil Elementary is Mission Viejo's first school and was built with the first homes just of of La Paz Rd. in the 60's. The neighborhood that it is in mainly has older residents who already raised their kids there. Most students at the school actually live in attendance boundaries in North Mission Viejo and have to go by bus or car to get to the school. Oneil currently has 400 something students. De Portola Elementary is also located in the neighborhood of Oneil and is only a few blocks away. Most students will probably move to high acheiving De Portola.

La Tierra is a really small school. Around 180 students on a campus that was built for many many more and in a tiny older neighborhood near the city border with Lake Forest. It is a little neighborhood school and also a district school for students with special needs. Without the special needs kids, enrollment from students actually in the boundaries is probably less than 100.

Saddleback Valley Unified's problem for closing schools is that it mainly covers the oldest portions of Mission Viejo built near the freeway in the 60's and 70's. There are also way too many schools in the SVUSD portion of Mission Viejo really close together, often less than .5 miles apart. Capistrano Unified has almost all of the newer neighborhoods in Mission Viejo built in the 80's -2000 and some especially large newer developments like Pacific Hills, Califia, Stoneridge, and Canyon Crest so the schools have enrollment from 500-750. CUSD serves Mission Viejo with 6 elementary schools, while SVUSD has 9 elementary schools in MV in older areas with declining enrollment.

It is sad to see two schools possibly go but these are not good financial times for CA education. It is sort of sad to think Mission Viejo's first school, Oneil, might also be the first to close.

[missionhome]

Oneil Elementary was saved by the SVUSD board tonight and will remain open. There was a huge outpouring of opposition from the students, parents, and teachers at this school and they have been holding signs in the community for weeks to gain support. Three board members voted to keep the school. The historical signifigance of the city's first school also was a reason for allowing the 450 students to remain.

The same cannot be said for La Tierra Elementary, known as the "little school with a big heart." The elementary program at La Tierra will close and move all 180 students to Del Cerro Elementary. Del Cerro will rise to have a final enrollment of about 580 students on its campus just south of the Muirlands/Alicia intersection. The preschool and special education program will remain open on the campus of La Tierra. Del Cerro will continue to offer a quality education to the students of La Tierra and has an API of 861.

** I actually think the trustees made the right decision. It is hard to justify keeping a school open for 180 students in such difficult financial times. While I am sure the parents loved the small school, Del Cerro is still in the same neighborhood area as La Tierra so these students fill be able to meet even more kids who might just live five blocks away and join a nice extended school family. 580 students is not a bad size for a elementary so Del Cerro should be able to handle having the extra students and the teachers will remain with their students.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/s...rra-saddleback

[Charles]

Mission Viejo Consolidated School District?