June 19, 1964 – Press-Telegram, p. B-11
Alamitos School Unity Bid OKd By County Unit
By JIM MELTON
The proposed Los Alamitos Unified School District received county level approval without difficulty Thursday night, but it may face rougher going at the state level.
Orange County Committee on School District Organization approved the plan at a meeting in Santa Ana.
The county committee, augmented by trustees of the Fullerton and North Orange County Junior College Districts, directed John C. Packard, county school administrative consultant, to set up a timetable for merger of the districts.
Board members said they hope to hold a public hearing, obtain state approval, put the merger to the voters by Jan 1, and complete the unification by July 1, 1965.
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Under the Los Alamitos unification proposal, its section of the Anaheim Union High School District would be added to the present Los Alamitos Elementary School District to create a unified kindergarten-through-12th grade school district.
All of the local school boards concerned favor the proposal, but their spokesmen fear that it may have trouble getting the necessary approval from the State Board of Education.
The state board has been pushing for formation of larger school districts and this plan would decrease the size of the Anaheim Union High School District.
Dr. Richard Leno, superintendent of the Los Alamitos Elementary District, is prepared to argue for the move. The Los Alamitos-Rossmoor area, he points out, is oriented to Long Beach, rather than Orange County; the bulk of its residents work in Orange County, read Long Beach newspapers, and do their out of town shopping in Long Beach.
He also said that unlike most of Orange County, the district’s area has distinct boundaries—freeway routes, the Orange-Los Angeles County line and Los Alamitos Naval Aiur Station. Because the area has community unity, it should have its own school system, he said.
The new district would share assets of the present Anaheim high school district in proportion to the number of students it took from the district. It would take over Oak Junior High School and two sites—a 25-acre plot at Cerritos and Bloomfield Street intended for a junior high school and a 47-acre high school site at Cerritos Avenue and Los Alamitos Boulevard.
Until the district could build its high school it would contract with Anaheim Union for education of its high school students. It has 3,500 elementary students and 2,500 high school students now attending Western High in Anaheim.
At a lightly attended public hearing in Rossmoor earlier this month, there were nonprotests and the only citizen to raise questions about the proposal said he favored it.
June 20, 1964 – LA Times
Los Alamitos Unification Approved
School Committees Also Back Merger of JC Districts.