School board approves boundary adjustments to accommodate fifth high school

Capping ten months of discussion and analysis, the IUSD Board of Education this week approved a new attendance area for the district’s next high school, along with additional high school boundary adjustments to take effect when the new campus opens in August 2016. Board members voted 5-0 on Tuesday, Aug. 19 to adopt changes recommended by IUSD’s Boundary Advisory Committee and Steering Committee following a presentation by facilities consultant and former IUSD principal Tony Ferruzzo. In a separate vote, the board also decided that the new high school should open with only ninth-graders in 2016. A new grade level will be added each year as the inaugural students advance. The boundary changes will not apply to any current high schoolers, and, as depicted in the map above, the majority of IUSD families will not be affected. But new boundary lines are needed to carve out an attendance area for Irvine Unified’s fifth comprehensive high school and to ensure secondary enrollment is properly balanced throughout the district. As such, they may impact future high school assignments for some Irvine students currently enrolled in kindergarten through grade seven. “We recognize that any time you make changes to attendance boundaries it’s going to have an impact on families," Board of Education President Sharon Wallin said after the meeting. "Yet, with the unprecedented rate of growth that we’re experiencing in Irvine, it is absolutely critical that we make prudent decisions now to ensure high school enrollment is balanced and manageable moving forward, giving our students the greatest opportunities to succeed." "Above all," Wallin said, "we are driven to do what’s best for kids while minimizing disruptions to our families, and I am proud to say that the actions taken by this board meet that standard.” Here’s a look at how the changes affect each of IUSD’s comprehensive high schools:

High School No. 5, set to open in August 2016. The new campus will serve Heritage Fields, Los Olivos, Portola Springs, Lambert Ranch, Stonegate and Woodbury. Irvine High School. As indicated above, Irvine cedes some neighborhoods to the new high school while picking up the area bordered by Jamboree Road, Irvine Center Drive, Culver Drive and Barranca Parkway, which was previously in Woodbridge’s High attendance area. This, however, does not include a separate, non-contiguous area assigned to Stone Creek Elementary School that’s bordered by Jamboree Road, Irvine Center Drive, Harvard Avenue and Moffett Drive. (Residents in that area will continue to attend Woodbridge.) Meanwhile, the area bordered by Trabuco Road, the Santa Ana (5) freeway and Jeffrey Road moves from Irvine High to Northwood High. Cypress Village remains assigned to Irvine High School. Northwood High School. Northwood High School also cedes some territory to the fifth high school, as indicated above. But the area bordered by Trabuco Road, the Santa Ana (5) Freeway and Jeffrey Road has been assigned to Northwood from Irvine High. University High School. No new areas have been assigned to Uni, but to balance enrollment, the Los Olivos area that was previously in Uni’s attendance area will be served by the new comprehensive high school, and two other Uni areas will be assigned to Woodbridge High. (See the Woodbridge High section.) Woodbridge High School. The area bordered by Jamboree Road, Barranca Parkway, Harvard Avenue and Alton Parkway has been transferred from Uni to Woodbridge, along with the area bordered by Harvard Avenue, Barranca Parkway, Culver Drive and Main Street. As indicated above, Woodbridge also cedes some of its attendance area to Irvine High.

  The boundary adjustments approved Tuesday -- click on the map above for an enhanced view -- represent the work of the district’s Boundary Advisory Committee, which began studying this complex issue back in October 2013. (The committee includes a principal, a teacher, a student and two parents from each of IUSD’s four comprehensive high schools, along with district staff.) After an initial draft of the plan was presented to the board at its March 4 meeting, four parent forums were held to provide information and solicit feedback. A revised proposal was then brought back to the board for another discussion on May 27. In related news, board members on Tuesday also asked staff to re-examine a non-contiguous area assigned to Stone Creek Elementary School to determine if it makes more sense for that area to be assigned to another elementary school’s attendance area.