Will Schools Close? Controversy Prompts Special Thursday Surplus Committee Meeting

The committee responsible for examining surplus properties for Mission Viejo and Lake Forest schools will meet Thursday.

Bowing to complaints from parents angry about Saddleback Valley Unified School District’s process for determining potential school closures, the 7/11 Committee will meet Thursday to reconsider the final report it approved April 28.

District staffers decided to schedule the additional meeting to ensure that the committee heard public testimony before it made its final decision, said district spokeswoman Tammy Blakely.

Several angry parents—most from Aliso Elementary in Lake Forest—had complained that the committee unanimously approved the report April 28 before it heard any testimony from the public. The school district is considering closing Trabuco, Aliso and Linda Vista elementary schools due to declining enrollment.

“We had a debriefing after the last committee meeting,” said Blakely. “The bigger piece I heard from that meeting is they wanted to make sure everyone had the opportunity to be heard. This is just trying to give another opportunity to communicate.”

The agenda for Thursday’s meeting of the district's Real Property Advisory Committee, known as the 7/11 Committee because of a legislative requirement that it have from seven to 11 members, allows for a period of public comment prior to a vote on its final report on six district properties.

At the April meeting, some parents also accused the committee of violating the Brown Act, the state’s open-meeting law, by failing to give proper notice about the meeting , as well as violating the spirit of California’s laws governing school closures by rushing through the process.

The district is considering school closures due to budget cuts and declining enrollment. SVUSD has the highest rate of declining enrollment in the county, which is costing it $3.8 million a year, officials say. Closing an elementary school saves an average of $500,000 a year, according to the district.

The report under consideration establishes a priority list for six surplus properties owned by the district: a warehouse on Via Fabricante in Mission Viejo, O’Neill Elementary (which closed in 2009), Trabuco Elementary, La Tierra Elementary (which closed in 2009), Aliso Elementary and Linda Vista Elementary. It also recommends that the district lease the properties instead of selling them.

The decision about whether to close schools—and which ones—ultimately rests with the elected school board.

The 7/11 Committee public hearing is scheduled for 5:45 p.m. Thursday, May 5, at the Saddleback Valley Unified School District board room at 25631 Peter A. Hartmann Way in Mission Viejo. A copy of the agenda is posted on the district’s website.