OUSD to Study Canyons Secession Bid to Saddleback Unified

OUSD to Study Canyons Secession Bid to Saddleback Unified Orange Unified will study the possibility of letting the Canyon communities that fed into the now closed Santiago Elementary School leave Orange Unified and join Saddleback Unified. The secession bid was presented as Information Item 13 B at the September 24, 2009 Orange Unified School Board Meeting. Speaking for the Inter-Canyon League, Dr. Deborah Johnson outlined reasons for the Canyon communities to secede from OUSD and join Saddleback Unified. After Johnson, several Canyon community speakers followed her presentation with more emotional appeals including threatening political and electoral retributions if OUSD Trustees tried to stop what many speakers said was an inevitable secession by the Canyons. In response to a question about the timing of the of a possible move by OUSD Trustee Dr. Alexia Deligianni, OUSD Superintendent Renae Dreier stated that the move could not take place this school year, and because she has approved every student transfer request to Saddleback Unified from the Canyon communities, she did not see the item as urgent. Among the needed steps was contacting the Orange County Committee on School District Organization for their expertise as well as researching all the needed facts of the proposal. OUSD Trustee Kathy Moffat asked for more information in two areas. First, what is Saddleback Unified’s view on the issue and second a more complete view on the positions of the Canyon community. Moffat wanted assurances of the validity of a survey taken by the Canyons that had a small reply in the sampling. Furthermore, Moffat noted that budget cuts in Saddleback Unified do not guarantee the Canyon communities would do better in seceding..