District: Charter law forced school's closure
Mission Viejo’s award-winning Barcelona Hills Elementary School will close in June to allow the 5-month-old Oxford Preparatory Academy charter school to grow.
MISSION VIEJO – Barcelona Hills Elementary is closing in June, but not because it's an underperforming school or because neighborhood parents are demanding sweeping changes.
The 34-year-old Mission Viejo school, a 2010 California Distinguished School recipient nestled in a middle-class Mission Viejo neighborhood of families who cherish and support their school, is closing because a charter school needs space to expand – and there isn't room for both schools.
These Barcelona Hills Elementary parents have led a months-long fight to save their school, pleading their case to the school district and school board in emails, phone calls, in-person meetings and public hearings. Pictured, from left, Lisa Middleton, Marcela Alcaraz, Sharon Mata, Monica Alvarez, Valinda Accetta, Jim Reynen, Linda Shepard, Gary Middleton, Patrick Mallon and Debbie Lackie.
LEONARD ORTIZ, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
The Capistrano Unified School District made the gut-wrenching decision to close Barcelona Hills in January, following a five-month experiment in which Barcelona shared its 25-classroom campus with the district's new Oxford Preparatory Academy K-8 charter school.
Behind the unusual outcome is a series of state laws designed specifically to empower public charter schools and guarantee them classroom space in public school districts, many of which historically have been unwelcoming and unfriendly to charter schools.
In Capistrano, however, these same state laws