Orange County Schools Overcrowding

As trustees of the Fullerton School District near a decision on whether to reduce second-grade classroom sizes, the teachers union has decided to take no stand on the matter. "At this time, the Fullerton Elementary Teachers Assn. takes no position on the 1997-98 expansion of class size reduction until the district receives full funding from the state," said Anita Smiley, the union's president. The district currently has no more than 20 students in each of its first-grade classrooms.

Toni Gartner worries that her 8-year-old daughter could become a latchkey child when their day-care center at Arbolita Elementary School in La Habra closes. "I don't have family support so that someone can look after my child. I'm a single mom," Gartner said. "I have to find something." The sentiment is shared by other parents of the 300 children who attend the Arbolita Child Care Center.

In Fullerton, they carved up a school cafeteria to fit new classrooms. Anaheim officials squeezed three teachers into every two rooms. Garden Grove schools set up so many portable rooms that power lines were tapped out. Despite such obstacles, Orange County educators on Monday unanimously praised a new state initiative to cut primary-grade classes to no more than 20 students each.

What price to pay for smaller class sizes? Parents in a handful of Orange County school districts are struggling with administrators over that question, as elementary schools try to find space to accommodate 20-student classes. At such districts as Capistrano and Garden Grove Unified, administrators are poised to redraw school boundaries and shift grades from one campus to another, beginning in the fall. Unpopular options such as year-round schools and double sessions have not been ruled out.

A state agency has approved the building plans for what would be California's first space-saver school, clearing the way for the State Allocation Board later this month to consider budgeting $25 million for the project. If the money is approved, construction would begin by December, said Mike Vail, senior director of facilities for Santa Ana Unified School District. The intermediate school would then be open for classes by September 1998.

A lack of space has delayed efforts at some district schools to reduce class size and has caused other schools to hold classes in the library, according to a recent presentation. At a recent board meeting, staff members told trustees of the Santa Ana Unified School District not to expect all of the district's elementary schools to reduce their first-grade classes to 20 students until at least December because of a space crunch and other considerations such as funding.

After district officials revised the boundaries of his children's school, Jose Paz and his family of six recently moved into another apartment two blocks down their street so his sons could continue to attend Key Elementary in Anaheim. But when he went to enroll his three boys, he was turned away. There was no more room at Key Elementary, he was told, and the boys were referred to another school. "I wanted to keep my children at Key Elementary," Paz said.

First-grade classes will be reduced to 20 students at all eight Fountain Valley School District elementary schools by Sept. 30, officials decided this week. Before an audience of more than 50 teachers and parents, district trustees Thursday night unanimously approved creating smaller first-grade classes. They also voted to reduce second-grade class sizes as soon as possible, but no date was set. Supt.

Belying their name, thousands of portable classrooms meant to be short-term solutions to school overcrowding are still sitting where they were installed as long as 30 years ago, and school officials say many of the boxy bungalows have become eyesores. "We look at these things as being temporary, and they're not," said Robert W. Balen, a trustee for the Santa Ana Unified School District, which has more than 400 portables. "They're permanent," he said, and some of them are "pretty ugly buildings."

As many youngsters head back to crowded classes today, Orange County school administrators are reeling from a recent decision by the state Legislature to keep a school construction bond measure off the November ballot.