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The Irvine Company and Tustin Unified School District (TUSD) are common to residents of Tustin Ranch, West Irvine, Northpark, Northpark Square and soon Orchard Hills. If past history is any indication, our kids will continue to attend schools in trailers and overwhelm local facilities well after The Irvine Company has finished producing “projections” for TUSD. Why is our planning so flawed? In fairness to TUSD, it is not in a position to demand much of The Irvine Company. After all, they generate their own projections and basically leave the district with no choice other than legal remedies and what school board is going to take them on? The Irvine World News claimed that student projection rates were off due to demographic shifts related to lack of affordable housing in the OC. In other words, families with kids are now moving into apartments that didn’t use to generate many students. That might be a factor. But profit motives for The Irvine Company appear to be the main factor. It won’t be long before Beckman High too is packed to the gills and folks start discussing expansion plans. Some of the Orchard Hill money could be used for this purpose. One of the reasons many of us chose TUSD is because it trys to keep schools small and personal. It rejected the 3,000 student high school model common in nearby school districts and made nurturing environments a priority. After all, there are only so many spots on the team or so many parts in the play. Recently, research has come out suggesting that kids have better outcomes in smaller institutions. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is spearheading a movement to make smaller high schools so that “the cracks are too small to fall through.” Why has The Irvine Company been so resistant to providing the land and financing mechanisms to construct the necessary schools? They are a business not a charity organization (although, they did just donate $20 million to Irvine Unified – which is great – but left us wondering if they planned to do anything for the needier TUSD?) Developers statewide have pushed through legislation that makes it difficult for local governments to hold them accountable as far as providing school facilities to accommodate growth. The Irvine Company has historically been one of the largest political contributors in the state. The Irvine City Council actually approved the Orchard Hills development project before Tustin Unified reached an agreement with The Irvine Company regarding the school facility planning and funding. Granted, they worked out an agreement later but what kind of leverage do you imagine that left the school district with in negotiations? The numbers need to be reviewed more closely but it is likely that what is needed in Orchard Hills remains a full 30 acre middle school site and a full elementary school not a combo plan that the district has never operated before. The only other time this kind of project was proposed was at Hicks Elementary and TUSD never followed through on this model for a variety of reasons (see old updates.) Has something changed? One thing remains the same. The Irvine Company will make more money developing land than selling it to the school district. One thing is different this time. Orchard Hills will likely be the last opportunity our school district ever has to address the cost of The Irvine Company development projects to our kids. The lights are coming on, everyone is filing out, the waiter has left the tab and it is sitting on the table. There is more than enough historical data to know how many kids the housing tracts will produce. We can see how many kids are in the schools right now. We must make absolutely certain our kids aren’t left with the bill. -Lyann Collins p.s. One aside, it appears from local news stories that Dr. Peter Gorman, TUSD Superintendent for the last five years has been selected as the final candidate for a large school district in North Carolina. Since it is a much larger district and obviously a great opportunity for him, he will probably move on (he was up for one in Vegas too, so it is just a matter of time.) Dr. Gorman did a fine job during some difficult times at TUSD. His genuine concern for all students in TUSD and professionalism earned him the respect of a wide spectrum of people. Mrs. Gorman was very active in bringing the Art Masters program to schools in our community where it was needed. They are a class act and will be missed. Our thanks to the school board that hired him and retained him all these years and a sincere thank you to the Gormans. The Irvine Company - Facility Planning Issues and TUSD Middle School Capacity Issues in TUSD in the Mello Roos Area At this time, The Irvine Company has set aside a site for the development North of Portola to accommodate a K through 8 school within the TUSD portion of the project. In Northpark TUSD has constructed Hicks Canyon Elementary which has an additional five acre property not developed but which could accommodate a "mini-middle school" as an extension of Hicks. Hicks Canyon was originally planned as a K through 8 model. The problem is that a middle school requires a minimum of 500 students in order to offer all the courses or something close to what is usually offered in middle school. Pioneer is at capacity and can not accommodate more than 1150 even with the new wing. Usually, three elementary schools with about 100 kids per class feed into one middle school. If you include the Elementary School slated for North of Portola, that puts 6 elementary schools in this area. 6 Elementary Schools will support 2 Regular Middle Schools. We need a Full Middle School site North of Portola. The two "mini-middle schools" do not create enough capacity, are not cost efficient for our district to operate and short change the students with reduced programming. TUSD pays full retail for the land we buy for schools. Nobody wants anything for free. The plan for North of Portola should include a complete Middle School site. An enormous amount of additional low income and high density apartment housing was jammed into West Irvine at the eleventh hour and the original student projections did not include the students these projects will produce. The bottom line is that once The Irvine Company has finished developing within TUSD, our kids will be left holding the bag if there are not enough schools. We need our elected officials and The Irvine Company to include a full middle school site in the plans for the development North of Portola. |
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Dear Elected Officials and Dr. Gorman, We recently received a brochure regarding planned construction for the area North of Portola in Irvine. As you know, a portion of this development will produce more students for the Tustin Unified School District. At this time, we understand the City of Irvine is asking for comments relating to the environmental impact of this planned development. One consequence of Irvine Company development in the past has been that children across TUSD have experienced terrible overcrowding. No additional development should be authorized by the City of Irvine or TUSD unless a viable plan to provide educational facilities for our children exists. At this time Pioneer Middle school has more children enrolled than it was designed for. Even with the construction of the new wing, this facility is too small to accommodate the students in the lower grades in the coming years. The Irvine Company has added an enormous amount of additional density to our area that was not included in the original plan in the form of high density apartment housing. We ask that all our elected officials in the City of Irvine and TUSD withhold approval of the project until such time as a plan exists to construct the facilities that will be needed as a consequence of all The Irvine Company development in TUSD. Sincerely, Lyann Collins lyann@earthlink.net |
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of Tustin Ranch, West Irvine, Northpark and Northpark Square. SIMBY's mission is better education and facilities for all students in TUSD. Please get involved and let your voice be heard. Our kids are worth it!" Let the Trustees of TUSD Know How You Feel! Send an email to board@tustin.k12.ca.us
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