'A Lot of Angst,' Discontent Over Trustee Boundary Areas

The consultants who are trying to come up with new trustee boundary areas for the Capistrano Unified School District are back at the drawing board.

So far, National Demographics of Glendale has come up with seven different versions, labeled A-G, for how Capo Unified’s sprawling district could be divided among the seven trustees. But trustees have found fault with all of them.

The district looks at its trustee boundary areas every 10 years, right after . By law, the districts must have roughly the same number of people residing in them.

Currently, the trustee areas appear suspiciously gerrymandered, formed in odd shapes and slicing San Juan Capistrano among four trustee areas. Trustees asked National Demographics to draw areas that made more sense, taking into consideration city limits, high school attendance boundaries, communities of interest and natural and manmade geographic features.

But it hasn’t been easy, and as trustees checked out their potential new digs, they found issues they couldn’t live with. at their Monday meeting.

Mission Viejo

Trustees Lynn Hatton and Ellen Addonizio, both from Mission Viejo, were not happy at the latest two attempts to map out their city. The first map chopped the city in three, the second in two. Hatton said if it were a matter of trying to keep the trustees in two different areas, the consultants shouldn’t worry about that.’

“Take me out of the equation,” she said.

Addonizio was critical of both plans because they paired parts of Mission Viejo with other cities west of Interstate 5. That didn’t make sense to her. She called them a “no-go.”

Laguna Niguel

Trustee Anna Bryson said most students in Laguna Niguel go to high school in Dana Point, and she wanted to make sure those families stayed together in one trustee area and that  was also in that trustee district.

Map G came close, but Dana Hills was just south of the district. Her constituents don’t like that, Bryson said.

“There is a lot of angst. There is a lot of discontent. There is a lot of unhappiness. They feel they are the football in this event,” she said.

Bryson added that her trustee area has always had fewer residents than other trustee areas. Her constituents feel underrepresented.

San Clemente

Trustee John Alpay said he understood San Clemente is too big to belong to just one trustee area, but he didn’t like how it was divided, especially Plan G which groups most of the coastal area with Dana Point.

That split off residents who live along Camino de Los Mares from Capistrano Beach, an area they with which they identify, Alpay said.

When David Meyer, one of the consultants, called the community of Talega, “Talega Ranch,” Alpay got indignant.

“You’re demonstrating my point. You’re not understanding the communities you’re dealing with,” he said.

The trustees told National Demographics employees that Map G was the least problematic, and they could use that as a starting point for change. The board will discuss trustee areas again at its next meeting, Wednesday, Jan. 25.