COSTA MESA : Private Preschool Moving to New Site

Faced with the loss of its lease at the Kaiser Primary Elementary School, the private Westcliff Early Childhood Center is preparing to move on.

“I know we’re going to be moving soon. I hope it’s near enough to be able to serve the same families’ needs,” said Joyce Smith, owner of the preschool, which also offers before- and after-school care for about 140 children up to 6 years old.

In an attempt to ease crowded conditions throughout the district, the school board is expected to make a decision Tuesday on a recommendation that would change the enrollment and grade levels of Kaiser Primary Elementary School and Kaiser Upper Elementary School.

The recommendation calls for adding second-graders to Kaiser Primary, which is now attended by kindergartners and first-graders. The second-graders would transfer from Kaiser Upper, which would become school for children in grades three through six. The changes would take place in the 1992-93 school year.

Westcliff has operated from Kaiser Primary for the last nine years. Smith’s lease expires in August, 1992, but she has offered to move a year early if the district will offer the preschool a five-year lease at the Harper school site, which is now used as a district administrative center.

Smith also is asking the board to provide transportation for children who attend Westcliff before and after school. If the board agrees, Smith plans to expand the school to care for children from 2.5 years of age to those in fifth grade.

Smith’s proposal is one of about six the board is studying after parents attended two school board meetings to protest the possible closure of Westcliff, said Dale Woolley, the district’s director of student support and research services.