Sreedhar Vellamena shows his support for Cypress Village School children attending Jeffrey Trail Middle School in Irvine on Thursday, November 16, 2017. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Shayla Divinagracia, second from right, and Jeanet Navarro, right, sign in before the start of a meeting to hear from the community about school boundaries at Jeffrey Trail Middle School in Irvine on Thursday, November 16, 2017. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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Aadarsh Yagnamoorthy, 10, marches with others in support of attending Jeffrey Trail Middle School in Irvine on Thursday, November 16, 2017. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Parents of Cypress Village School students march to tell the Board of Education they want their children to attend Jeffrey Trail Middle School in Irvine on Thursday, Nov. 16, 2017. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Cypress Village School children Adam Yassin, 8, left, and Avneesh Bajaj, 10, right, walk in support of attending Jeffrey Trail Middle School in Irvine on Thursday, Nov. 16, 2017. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Orange County Register/SCNG)



Parents of Cypress Village school children walk to Jeffrey Trail Middle School to tell the Board of Education they want their children to attend Jeffrey Trail Middle School in Irvine on Thursday, Nov. 16, 2017. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Orange County Register/SCNG)

IRVINE — One of the fastest growing cities in California is experiencing some growing pains.

The Irvine Unified School District is in the midst of redrawing school boundaries, particularly north of Interstate 5 where much of the housing development is taking place, to deal with what officials describe as “unprecedented growth.” Parents in those communities, however, are upset over the possibility that their children may not be able to attend schools closest to their homes or be torn apart from their friends.

On Thursday, Nov. 16, dozens of Cypress Village residents marched to protest a proposal that their children have to attend Venado Middle School on the other side of I-5, instead of the currently assigned Jeffrey Trail Middle School within walking distance.

Holding “CV KIDS FOR JTMS” signs, the parents and children walked from Cypress Grove Park to Jeffrey Trail Middle School, where Irvine Unified hosted a public hearing about the boundary adjustment.

“We sacrifice a lot to live here mostly because of (reputable) schools,” said Pramod Kunju, who bought a house in Cypress Village in 2014. “We think we live in the greatest city. What they are doing is not Irvine like.”

With the existing boundaries, Jeffrey Trail Middle School and Portola High School, two of Irvine’s newer schools, are projected to exceed their capacity by fall 2019, according to the district.

The district is considering boundary changes that would make some students currently assigned to attend those two schools when they get older go to the less crowded but older Sierra Vista and Venado middle schools and Irvine and Northwood high schools.

“We are interested in serving our students and ensuring that we have the capacity to provide comprehensive education and programs for our students,” district spokeswoman Annie Brown said.

The district’s Boundary Advisory Committee — consisting of 37 parents, students, teachers and district staff — has devised four options and is now in the process of getting public input. Three parent meetings were held this week at Venado, Sierra Vista and Jeffrey Trail middle schools. The Thursday night meeting at Jeffrey Trail drew about 300 residents, mostly from Cypress Village.

(Click here for Irvine Unified’s information site on the boundary adjustment.)

Cypress Village parents are opposing two of the options that assign their children to Venado Middle School, about three miles away.

Many say they bought into a promise their children could walk to elementary and middle schools in one of the state’s top-ranked school districts, in exchange for small backyards and high Mello Roos taxes, some of which go toward funding Jeffrey Trail Middle School.

Cypress Village resident Inderjit Bains presented a brochure promoting Irvine Co.’s Cypress Village, where houses sell for around $1 million, to district officials during the meeting.

“From sparkling pools and lush play areas at Floral Park, to two brand new Irvine Unified schools your children can walk to — this new village has it all!” the brochure reads.

Tony Ferruzzo, a consultant to Irvine Unified, told parents that Realtors use school information to sell homes but don’t always disclose that the boundaries could change.

Kunju said he and his wife would be forced to adjust their work schedule if their daughters, now 6 and 1, need to be dropped off and picked up at school when they get older.

“We essentially committed 30 years of our life here because of the promise that our kids can walk to school,” he said.

Irvine Unified officials emphasized that no decision has been made and the options could be changed based on feedback. The district’s elected board will make a final decision at its Dec. 12 meeting and the new boundaries would take effect in August 2019.

“I understand parents have strong feelings about this,” board President Ira Glasky said by phone Thursday. “The process is super important to us. It’s fantastic that we are getting all this feedback.”

Brown said the district wants to limit student enrollment at each school below capacity to foster close relationships among students, parents and teachers for “more individualized education.” Adding students and temporary buildings on campus, known as portables, could clog up the campus, she said.

“We make sure they have the same experience” at any school they go to, Glasky said.

Irvine Unified has been constructing and opening new schools since 2013 to keep up with the population increase, which jumped from 210,000 in 2010 to more than 260,000 in 2016.

It costs on average about $80 million to open an elementary school, $150 million for a middle school and $300 million for a high school, Brown said. District officials are careful not to open too many schools because student population could eventually dip when neighborhoods get older.

“It doesn’t fiscally make sense when you have to eventually contract,” Brown said, adding that the district as a whole has enough room to accommodate all the students, though not always in right locations.



Parents in the Stonegate community are opposing all four proposed options because their children would be moved to Sierra Vista Middle School, instead of Jeffrey Trail.

“They treat us like commodities and move us around,” said Weiguang Shao, who moved to Stonegate in 2012.

One of the options would make Northwood Elementary students attend Venado Middle School, across the freeway, instead of Sierra Vista. Residents in the older Northwood community say that would put an unfair burden on them as the population growth stems from new neighborhoods.

They are worried the Northwood community would be divided in two — those who attend Sierra Vista and those who go to Venado.

“I think residents are very stressed out about it because they want their kids to remain at Sierra Vista,” said Carol Pizer, whose daughter is in second grade at Northwood Elementary. “Most of our neighbors feel we are in a stable community and it shouldn’t be split up.”

Some in the audience asked district officials why the Woodbury community, adjacent to Cypress Village, isn’t affected.

But others said neighborhoods shouldn’t be fighting one another. They said residents should instead pressure the district, the city and developers to control growth because overcrowding at certain schools is a symptom of a larger problem.

Irvine Unified receives a state-mandated $3.54 per square foot of residential space from developers, but doesn’t have the authority to approve or deny any project, district officials said. Land use decisions lie with the city, they said.

One of the Cypress Village parents asked the audience to support an initiative, introduced by a group called Irvine for Responsible Growth, that gives voters the power to weigh in on whether sizeable development projects in the city can move forward.

Board president Glasky commended the city for developing according to its long-term plan.

“We absolutely can accommodate the growth, and we have done a great job doing that,” he said.