Irvine Preschool Faces an Uncertain Future

IRVINE — Outraged Irvine school officials and parents said Friday that 200 children may be displaced in the fall because plans to relocate a preschool on a college campus have been killed.

According to officials of the Irvine Unified School District, Irvine Valley College has rescinded its commitment to lease a plot of its land to a Montessori preschool run by the school district. But college officials contend that they never made any firm agreements and that they scrapped the “proposal” because the preschool could jeopardize attendance at the college’s own child care center.

“We were concerned that a Montessori school could possibly create competition for our existing center when it is striving to become self-sufficient on its own fee income,” said Raghu P. Mathur, Irvine Valley College interim president, in a statement.

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Because of budget constraints, Irvine Unified officials decided last summer to sell the building that has been housing its Montessori International Preschool for the past 10 years. The site recently was sold for $3.3 million, which will cover maintenance costs at schools districtwide and help build a theater and gymnasium at two high schools.

Parents and Irvine administrators looked for new sites at churches, business parks and Irvine Valley College. In February, college officials made “strong assurances” to Irvine Unified that a lease would be approved by the college district’s trustees, school officials said.

“They said it would be good for both the college and our district,” said Irvine Unified business manager Paul Reed. Irvine Valley’s business administrator “hammered out the terms of the agreement.”

Irvine school officials said they proceeded to pour about $250,000 into purchasing six portable classrooms and hiring an architect for the new school site.

But college officials said Irvine Unified was too hasty.

“I don’t see how they could have felt it was a sure thing when the board did not see the proposal until our meeting last month,” said Marcia Milchiker, a trustee for the South Orange County Community College District, which oversees Irvine Valley and Saddleback colleges.

“There were never any promises made. Our administrators cannot make any contracts on their own. I’m confident in saying they make it clear to anyone that preliminary negotiations must be presented to the college and then the board.”

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College trustees first heard of the lease proposal--and the opposition from Irvine Valley staff and faculty--in April. College staff told the board that the Montessori school would lure potential preschoolers from their Child Development Center, which primarily serves the children of Irvine Valley students, faculty and staff.

But Irvine Unified officials said its Montessori school serves a particular population: children from bilingual families whose parents choose the school for its seven languages. Also, the Montessori school has a waiting list of about 80 children.

Irvine Unified administrators added that the college failed to warn it of the opposition.

Parents and school officials will attend the South Orange County Community College board meeting Monday to request further negotiations. If that fails, the school district will have to close the Montessori preschool, Supt. Dennis M. Smith said.

“We’ve exhausted all our options,” he said. “There is no space at our other schools. Without another location, we will have to dissolve the Montessori program. That’s been something we’ve been striving to avoid.”

The closure would be devastating, said parents, who have donated $80,000 to help relocate the school.

Polly Wan, whose son has been at the Montessori school for three years, said her family moved to Irvine from Seal Beach primarily to shorten the commute to the Montessori school.

“My husband even works in downtown L.A.,” Wan said. “We sold our house, we moved down here and now no more Montessori school? It’s ridiculous.”