Charter School Wants More Capo Campus Space

Oxford Preparatory Academy—a new charter school with a Mission Viejo elementary school to mixed results—is requesting extra space to enroll more students next year.

When the ’s Board of Trustees , it gave the green light for as many as 550 students at its regular school and the ability to run a 100-student independent-study program.

But Oxford voluntarily reduced its regular enrollment to 450 K-8 students and agreed to share a campus with . Now, it will be asking for a total of 717 students calculated on an average daily attendance, with 672 on-campus students, 222 more than enrolled today.

"The school board will have to make some material changes" to the charter agreement to allow for the expansion, said Jason Watts, director of educational services for Oxford. 

Watts said he isn't sure whether the Barcelona Hills campus could handle the anticipated growth, and that if the school must relocate to be accommodated, the Oxford community is prepared for that. 

"It's up to the district. All we say is, 'Here's our number.' From there, they offer facilities," he said.

Although parents and faculty at both schools put on brave faces when the academic year started, it hasn’t been an easy union. A handful of Barcelona parents to complain that the atmosphere at the school is not good.

Then just last week, a confrontation between a Barcelona Hills parent and the on-site administrator for Oxford required the assistance of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

Barcelona parents claim Oxford students call their children losers while Oxford parents claim Barcelona Hills students have thrown rocks at them, saying, “Barclona rocks,” according to parents at both schools.

Aaron Weidenkeller, an administrative deputy with the sheriff's department, said a deputy was dispatched Wednesday afternoon in response to the incident, and the call took a half-hour to resolve. It ended when the deputy convinced the Barcelona parent to take up the issue with the Barcelona Hills principal, who was not on campus at the time.

“My two boys have been subjected to comments by older boys from OPA who call them ‘losers who won't be around next year.’ Where do OPA kids hear this stuff from?” wrote Barcelona parent Patrick Mallon in the comments section of a Patch.com article.

The elementary school has lost about 200 of its students since the shared-campus arrangement was announced. Current enrollment is 231, said Capistrano Unified spokesman Marcus Walton.

Under Proposition 39, Capistrano Unified must provide facilities free of charge to charter schools who serve Capo students. Sharing the Barcelona Hills campus was the only solution the district could devise, Superintendent Joseph Farley has said.

“The district must respond to the initial request [for more students] by Dec. 1, but a solution will take more time,” Walton told Patch. “The district will work with the charter school to find the best solution.”

Watts said in devising the figures given to the school district, Oxford asked current and interested families to sign letters of intent to enroll next year. The school generated letters for 1,667 students in two weeks' time.

Oxford selects its students randomly at a . 

Oxford is proposing a third campus in Oceanside. The school has set up a Facebook page.