Yorba Linda Mayor Proposes Annexing Land to Get School : Education: He says a boundary change could bring Esperanza High into the city and give community more pride. Anaheim officials are lukewarm to the idea.

YORBA LINDA —  Mayor John M. Gullixson always wanted a high school.

For years, Gullixson has pushed the school board to build what would be the city’s only high school. Now, having failed, he has another proposal: annex one.

Last week, Gullixson announced he has been talking with two Anaheim City Council members about annexing Esperanza High School. Although Esperanza is within the Anaheim city limits, it is part of the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District, and most of its 2,500 students are Yorba Linda residents. The school is on Kellogg Drive in a pocket of Anaheim that juts into Yorba Linda.

“We’re flirting with the possibility of annexing the school,” Gullixson said.

Anaheim Mayor Tom Daly confirmed that he had talked with Gullixson about allowing annexation of the 55-acre campus and approximately 160 houses surrounding the school.

“Under certain circumstances, it might make sense,” Daly said. “If there was support from the community and from the school district, I’d consider it.”

Daly said he generally supports efforts to align city boundaries with school district boundaries so that students attend schools in their cities.

“It is important in terms of community pride,” Daly said.

But Anaheim Councilman Bob D. Simpson, who had not heard about Gullixson’s idea until Saturday, questioned the need.

“There are schools in Anaheim Hills that are part of Orange Unified School District, and that is not a problem” for those students, Simpson said.

Simpson added he would consider the idea if the residents liked it.

Gullixson has spent the last 2 1/2 years trying to persuade Placentia school Supt. James O. Fleming to build a high school in Yorba Linda.

The mayor has appealed to Fleming’s pride as a Yorba Linda resident, asking what other city of 58,000 residents does not have its own high school. He has cited the academic benefits of a fourth high school in the district, saying more students would get a chance to be leaders and varsity athletes.

Gullixson even flexed the city’s political muscle, reminding district officials at a joint meeting earlier this year that Yorba Linda residents make up 60% of the school district population--and vote.

But Fleming, who could not be reached for comment, has held firm to the position that three high schools in the district are enough.

Placentia school board member Judy Miner, however, said Gullixson’s idea is one she frequently has pondered herself.

“Among friends and colleagues, I often have mentioned the idea of annexing Esperanza,” Miner said.