When Roland Dean Olson moved to Irvine from Tustin in search of a larger home to accommodate his growing family in December 1969, there was one condition he wouldn’t compromise: an excellent education for his four children.
Irvine was growing rapidly but didn’t have its own school district at the time. Olson and others wanted changes in tradition-bound curriculums offered by the existing districts that served the broader community. So it was no surprise that Irvine residents voted overwhelmingly — 1,246 to 162 — for creating the Irvine Unified School District in 1972.
In that election, Olson, who was working as an electronic engineer for Ford Aerospace, ran for IUSD’s first board of education. He wanted to ensure he could provide his children with the best education while serving his community.
Olson won in a field of 17 candidates, along with Charles Boulanger, Sharon Sircello, Norman Ginsburg and Lee Sicoli.
“We were kind of a diverse board in terms of political beliefs, but it was wonderful how we worked together,” Olson, 93, said. “Our No. 1 goal was always to keep the children in mind.”
When the board members met for the first time on July 10, 1972, they moved their meeting table from a stage to the floor.
“We knew that in order to build a school system, it needed to be built from the bottom up, not from the top down,” Sicoli later said of the symbolic gesture.
Founders at work
The most imminent task for the board was clear: The district had to build new schools to accommodate the increasing number of students.
Children in central and north Irvine were being bused to Irvine School, built in 1929 on Sand Canyon Avenue. The aging school housed upwards of 1,700 elementary and middle school students.
During the first meeting, the board decided to put a $50 million bond measure on a ballot for the November 1972 presidential elections. It was the largest such measure in Orange County’s history.
Irvine voters, who shared the desire for new schools, passed the measure 8,138 to 1,937. They also approved the district to borrow an additional $44 million from the state’s school building program three months later.
The board, eager to listen to the community, appointed parents to committees that had a voice in the design of their neighborhood schools.
“Over the almost eight years that I served on the board, I believe that we completed, started or planned over 20 new schools,” Olson said.
As a parent, Olson experienced the impact firsthand. His oldest daughter graduated from the very first class at University High. Because of the addition of new schools and redrawing of the boundaries, his next two children graduated from Irvine High School and the last four from Woodbridge High School.
Also, the board hired A. Stanley Corey as IUSD’s first superintendent. Corey had served as the superintendent of the Berryessa and Cupertino union school districts in Silicon Valley before he came to Irvine.
The board had just two conditions for him. He’d have two years to create a “superior” district, and if he succeeded, they’d continue to follow his lead.
To achieve his goals, Corey created a culture of decentralization, which allowed schools to develop their programs and plans to meet the needs of their respective communities.
He also instilled the idea of continuous improvement throughout the district, demanding that “Outrageous expectations should be standard.”
Corey died in 2014, but his vision still lives on at IUSD.
“One of the first correct decisions the board made was to select Stan Corey as the first superintendent,” Olson said. “He pulled together an excellent staff, and good things started to happen. We couldn’t have found a better one.”
Reasons for success
Olson said “excellent cooperation” with the city of Irvine and the Irvine Company was a key to IUSD’s success.
For instance, the district opened school campuses next to city-owned community parks with minimal or no fencing in between. That allowed the district and the city to share some amenities, such as the tennis courts and aquatic center by Irvine High.
“Our goal was to make schools part of the community,” Olson said.
The Irvine Company, which was developing neighborhoods throughout the city, worked with the district to choose campus locations.
“The Irvine Company was very helpful,” Olson said. “They even took us on a helicopter to help us select lots for schools. They gave us a complete tour of the whole city on a helicopter. That’s the kind of cooperation we had with the Irvine Company and the city.”
Olson served two terms on the board, including two years as board president, until 1979.
He had opportunities to hand graduation diplomas to each of his seven children and his niece, who was living with the family.
“They all got a good education,” Olson said. “They are all doing well and are looking back fondly on their education in Irvine.”
Olson and his wife still live in the same house they bought 53 years ago in The Ranch neighborhood. They’ve watched IUSD develop into one of the highest-achieving school districts in California.
When asked why the district has been thriving, Olson thought for a moment.
“I think it’s the overall desire to be the best,” Olson said. “I really think that we started on the right track, so I’m really proud that I was a small part of that.”