SAN CLEMENTE : Continuation School Plans Fall Through

Less than a week before the start of the school year, officials at the Capistrano Unified School District must search anew for a site to house a planned San Clemente continuation school.

Plans for the campus, in the works for months, were seen in part as a way to provide classes for gang members fearful of attending the district’s current continuation school, Serra High School, in San Juan Capistrano and in rival gang territory.

But negotiations over a lease for a two-story building on West El Portal ended Wednesday night, prompting the unexpected change of course. The district and the building owner could not reach a financial agreement, authorities said.

“It really throws us a curve,” said Thomas Anthony, assistant superintendent of secondary school operations.

As a temporary measure, the 55 expected students for the proposed San Clemente site will attend classes in portable buildings at San Clemente High School, Anthony said.

Officials now hope to find a permanent site for the continuation school by November or December.

Dave Doomey, executive director of facilities and planning, said the district will conduct a search to determine if any buildings in San Clemente might be better than those identified earlier. When looking about eight months ago, the district studied four sites.

Doomey said the city of San Clemente and the state Department of Education are working closely with the district. Once a new proposed site is chosen, a city public hearing would be held, he said.

In February, Capistrano Unified trustees approved the concept of creating the continuation school in a San Clemente business park for students in grades 10 through 12.

The school, called Rancho Alternative Education Center, was described in part as a “safe haven” for some members of San Clemente’s Varrio Chico gang who had chosen to drop out of class rather than show up at Serra High School, which sits in turf of the rival San Juan Boyz gang.

District officials also said the Rancho continuation school was convenient, as well as necessary, because Serra High was nearing its 200-student capacity.

Serra High is expected to enroll about 180 students this fall, Anthony said.

While temporarily housing local continuation students at San Clemente High School, Anthony said the district hopes to coax other students back to Serra High by assuring them that the school is safe.

“We want to find out why they are not going,” Anthony said.

Finding a home for the continuation school in San Clemente could present a few obstacles.

The previously selected site in a business park on Calle Negocio drew criticism from one San Clemente resident who said the school’s presence would “introduce an element that we don’t want to see.”

Doomey said the site was rejected by the state Department of Education because neighboring manufacturing businesses were too close.

Anthony said that setting up a continuation high school is “always a sensitive issue.” He said the city has been supportive.

“We want to make sure we are not a detriment to the community,” Anthony said.