Placentia Board Delays Action : Public to Be Heard on School District Name

What’s in a name?

Everything, judging by the fiery emotions on both sides of a proposal to change the name of the Placentia Unified School District.

So strong were the sentiments voiced at a special school board meeting Tuesday night on the issue that trustees delayed action and ordered a public hearing in February, board president Barbara Williams said Wednesday.

“There were quite a few speaking on this topic at our board meeting Tuesday night, and we had two City Council members from Yorba Linda and the letter from the City Council in Placentia,” Williams said.

“We decided we have so many other big issues right now that we would wait until February to make a decision. Also, we think it will help to get more suggestions from a public hearing.”

Placentia Council Opposed

At issue is a proposal before the Placentia school board to change the district’s name in a way that would show that the district now extends considerably beyond the city of Placentia.

While no specific name was suggested initially, the driving force behind the proposal comes from the neighboring city of Yorba Linda, 78% of which is within the boundaries of the Placentia school district.

Placentia’s City Council has strongly opposed changing the school district name. In a letter sent to the school board in advance of its Tuesday night meeting, Placentia Mayor George F. Ziegler noted that Placentia Unified’s name is 110 years old “and is historically significant.”

But Yorba Linda residents, several of whom spoke at the board meeting Tuesday night, would very much like to be included somehow in the district’s name.

Yorba Linda’s desire for a name change has gained speed over the last two years, since the tiny Yorba Linda (Elementary) School District, covering the remaining 22% of the city, announced it would try to merge with Placentia Unified. If that merger is approved, all of the city of Yorba Linda will be within Placentia Unified. And so, Yorba Linda believes that it should be represented in the unified district’s name.

‘Placentia Linda’ Suggested

“One of our (Placentia Unified) board members, Stacy Holland, made the motion that we change our name to ‘Placentia Linda,’ ” Williams said.

She noted that many school districts combine the names of two cities or areas, citing as one example the Newport-Mesa Unified School District serving the cities of Newport Beach and Costa Mesa.

But Williams agreed that even Placentia Linda doesn’t fully describe the geography or student mix of Placentia Unified. Current enrollment in the district is: 7,290 students from Placentia; 5,399 from Yorba Linda; 3,272 from Anaheim; 799 from Fullerton, 137 from Brea and 300 from interdistrict transfers.

So far, no Anaheim residents have agitated to be represented in a new name. Williams acknowledged that students from that city make up a major portion of the district population.

The public hearing on the proposed name change will be at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 9 in the Placentia Unified School District Board Room, 1301 E. Orangethorpe Ave. Williams said the board has scheduled a meeting for 7:30 p.m. Feb. 23 to vote on the question.

” . . . There may be several other name suggestions by that time,” Williams said.

Until then, “we have many problems before the school board that have to be settled, such as getting a new superintendent and possibly making boundary changes for our high schools,” she said. “Changing the name of the school district is an important issue, but it won’t affect our students’ education.”