Olinda School Relocating

After nearly a half-century in Olinda Village, Olinda School is being moved to a new location next to the Brea Sports Park on Birch Street west of Valencia Avenue.  Since 1964, the school has been an integral part in its closeknit community and has been operating in its own unique domain.  Of course, before that the school operated in the Olinda oil field community from a location, established in the first years of the 20th-century, along Carbon [Canyon] Creek in what is now Carbon Canyon Regional Park.

With the removal to the new site, the "specialness" of the school will most certainly change.  On the other hand, it is understandable that the Brea-Olinda School District would want to have a campus that was less remote and, perhaps, more cost-effective.   To those residents of Olinda Village, especially, the economic considerations no doubt come at a different kind of cost.

Construction of the new Olinda School at the site on Birch Street west of Valencia Avenue next to Brea Sports Park.  Taken on 10 April 2011.

Another issue, naturally, is that, as the area around Carbon Canyon and Tonner Hills becomes the last major region of developable land of housing, the current campus has its limits when it comes to growth.  The new site, however, is on a larger footprint and, presumably, has space for future development. 

Given, though, the continuing problems experienced in funding schools in California, it remains to be seen whether more housing translates to a corresponding ability to keep schools of all types in financial positions that are reasonable for future effectiveness.  As it stands currently, Olinda has an API score of 934 and, while acknowledging that standardized testing is hardly the all-encompassing measure of student performance that it is often touted to be, it is the standard that is prevalent. 

The new Olinda School is slated to open for the 2011-12 school year.

A relocated and expanded Olinda School may or may not be compromised in terms of test scores or less quantifiable measures of achievement, but there is no question that its move transforms the uniqueness that the school has had in its somewhat isolated location.

Update: 29 April 2011:  An Olinda Elementary teacher has stated that the Brea-Olinda Unified School District is planning to open the new school mid-year in December and added that there are certain infrastructure elements that won't even be ready at that time.  If this is so, it will certainly be an interesting 2011-12 school year for everyone involved!