Orange County: Parents sue about school boundaries claiming open meeting violations

A trial starts this week brought by parents seeking to throw out boundaries for the new Yorba Linda High School. The lawsuit is partly based on the allegation that the superintendent and board members held private meetings on the boundaries. -db

The Orange County Register
September 12, 2010
By Jessica Terrell

YORBA LINDA – A group of parents will get their day in court Monday when a trial starts for two lawsuits seeking to have the boundaries for Yorba Linda High School thrown out.

The parents want their families included in the attendance area of the school, which opened in 2009.

The lawsuits allege that Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified Superintendent Dennis Smith violated the Brown Act by having private meetings with school board members and contend that the district failed to properly consider potential environmental impacts when setting the boundaries.

The district denies both contentions in the non-jury case being heard by Orange County Superior Court Judge Gail Andler.

“It’s absolutely incorrect that there was a violation of the Brown Act,” said Smith, who declined to elaborate.

Under a plan Smith supported, all Bryant Ranch and an estimated 55 percent of Travis Ranch elementary students will continue on to Yorba Linda High. Travis students who live south of the major thoroughfare of Yorba Linda Boulevard will head to Esperanza High instead.

Parents argued at board meetings to have all students from both schools attend Yorba Linda High.

Although the suits center on the Brown Act and the California Environmental Air Quality Act, one of the biggest complaints opponents have is that the boundary lines split students who have been attending school together since kindergarten, said Gina Lemos, a plaintiff. Lemos said Travis students who aren’t continuing on to Yorba Linda High are being ostracized and bullied by fellow students.

Other plaintiffs include the group Friends of PYLUSD and parent Theresa Stull.

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