The IUSD Board of Education has unanimously approved a name for Irvine’s next middle school.
The Jeffrey Open Space Trail will connect Irvine's parks, paths and wildlands.
In accordance with the district’s policy to assign names based on nearby landmarks and historical references, the campus near the intersection of Jeffrey and Trabuco roads will be known as Jeffrey Trail Middle School. That's a nod to the emerging Jeffrey Open Space Trail, a pastoral corridor that will meander through Irvine, linking a number of the city's parks, paths and wildlands. Options that were rejected by the board at its May 17 meeting included “Trabuco Ranch Middle School” and “Trabuco Woods Middle School.” (The neighboring Saddleback Valley Unified School District already has a few sites with references to "Trabuco.") IUSD worked closely with the Irvine Company to establish funding for its next middle school, and the district was able to secure an additional $9 million from the state by meeting a number of early construction deadlines. As a result of the advanced timeline, Jeffrey Trail Middle School is on pace to be completed well before it’s needed to accommodate students in fall 2013.