Skyview School, an alternate school serving primarily at-risk and unhoused youth throughout Orange County, could be split into two separate campuses.
Per a new proposal from the Orange County Department of Education, Skyview could be separated by grades, with its 17 elementary school students joining a campus in the Anaheim Elementary School District later this year. The junior high would continue at the Harbor Learning Center in Anaheim.
“While this arrangement (at Harbor Learning Center) has its benefits, the campus lacks amenities crucial for the development of younger children, such as a dedicated elementary library and permanent play structures,” said Ramon Miramontes, OCDE’s deputy superintendent of instructional programs.
“This will give opportunities of expanded learning in the afternoons, giving students the chance to socialize with other kids their own age and getting that experience that they felt is lacking from their previous school,” said Vern Burton, the assistant superintendent of OCDE’s alternative education program. “We wanted to look at the bigger picture to expand and offer them more.”
While it was a topic of conversation for the Orange County Board of Education on Wednesday, Jan. 10, a decision on whether to split the school is forthcoming, officials said. Burton said he’d like to see students moved as early as February, however.
Logistically, according to Burton, the Harbor Learning Center site was slated to be a place for OCDE to use for programs for at-risk students or special needs programs. It was never intended, officials say, to be a facility for Skyview to use long-term.
“If it was not designed to be the permanent home for Skyview, I wish that was somehow communicated to us and was up front to everybody,” said Trustee Ken Williams.
Skyview has been housed at Harbor Learning Center for just over 15 months, after moving from its previous site in Garden Grove. The Title 1 school has a total population of about…
Read the full article here