Advanced Placement classes, tests give students leg up on earning university graduation credits

Again this month I spent 14 days administering Advanced Placement examinations to 9th through 12^th grade students at Valencia High School in the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District, a rewarding task I've enjoyed for 16 years.

Successful scores on these exams can earn university credits and often allow students to bypass introductory courses at the universities they attend. The AP program certainly prepares students for higher-level academics.

AP classes and exams are offered at nearly every high school in Orange County, and more than 4,000 tests in 27 subjects were given this month at El Dorado, Esperanza, Valencia and Yorba Linda high schools in the Placentia-Yorba Linda district.

The individual exams take up to three hours and 15 minutes to complete, not including time spent on directions, and are administered under strict security procedures. Each test costs $94, less for income-qualified households.

People who bemoan the state of public school education today are way off the mark. Although AP classes are winding down this year, I urge doubters to contact a high school principal and arrange to observe an AP class next year. You'll be impressed at the level of instruction.

Many students complete enough AP classes and earn qualifying scores on the exams to enter universities as sophomores, especially when combined with International Baccalaureate classes and scores on IB exams offered at some high schools, including Valencia in Placentia.

Credits awarded for AP and IB work differ at individual universities and are outlined in the catalogs issued by each institution. Copies are available at high school counseling offices.

Of course, not every high school student takes AP or IB classes, so most districts offer a variety of programs that prepare students for entry- and college-level work in several specialized disciplines.

For example, the Placentia-Yorba Linda district has academies in Business, Digital Media Arts, EdLaw, Engineering and Manufacturing, Medical Science and Technology, with most including internships. Elementary and middle schools emphasize career awareness and preparation.

Doubters of the value of today's public school education should take the time to observe some of these programs also.

And let me clear up misconceptions about “dumbed down” textbooks with just one example. A common piece of literature taught to ninth graders is Shakespeare's “Romeo and Juliet.”

The freshman literature book most used nationwide for decades through the early 1980s was the Scott, Foresman title “Adventures in Reading,” which contained only one-third of the lines from the play, with the remaining action described in brief narrative passages.

Books used in classrooms today carry full versions of the play or other complete works. Take a look at the newer math, science, history and other texts, and you'll see quality instructional materials superior to those from past years.

Yorba Linda continues to use Richard Nixon's Community Development Block Grant idea

Appropriately, Richard Nixon's boyhood home of Yorba Linda is one of 1,209 governmental jurisdictions nationwide participating this year in one of the signature ideas of Nixon's presidential administration – the Community Development Block Grant program.

Implemented on a bipartisan basis just months after Nixon left office in 1974, the block grants combined several separate federal programs designed to help low- and moderate-income areas or neighborhoods and income-qualified households.

Block grants “assist communities in providing decent housing and a suitable living environment and in expanding economic opportunities, principally for persons of low and moderate income,” Mary Lewis, the city's block grant coordinator, stated in a recent report to the City Council.

For the fiscal year beginning July 1, the city will receive $242,676 in federal funds, about $20,000 more than last year. Since 2003, the city has received nearly $4.3 million from one of the longest-running programs managed by the Housing and Urban Development Department.

The largest portion, $92,232, will help fund the city's neighborhood improvement program, which provides grants to income-qualified homeowners for general property improvements and repairs to meet local codes, standards and ordinances.

The next largest portion, $65,507, will fund improvements at public facilities that need updating to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, which became law in 1990. Anticipated projects involve parking lots at several city parks and other work at city-owned locations.

A maximum 15 percent allocation for public service programs, $36,401, will fund some of the salaries for the part-time staff that administers the senior lunch program weekdays at the Community Center.

The first-come, first served lunches begin at 11:30 a. m. on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and 11:15 a. m. on Wednesdays for a $3 suggested donation for ages 60 and over and a $5 fee for ages 59 and younger. About 1,200 lunches are served each month.

Administration of the overall grant program is limited to 20 percent of total funding, $48,536, for development, management, coordination and monitoring expenses. The city and county will share this amount equally.

Also recently approved by council members is a contract renewal for a firm hired last year to help the city recruit additional businesses to retail centers throughout the city.

Jones Lang LaSalle Brokerage has been working since March 2018 to seek and attract “highly desired” commercial and restaurant tenants to the city's regional and neighborhood shopping centers. Cost to the city is $5,000 monthly.

The extension was recommended based on “the prior year results” and “to maintain the momentum and solidify certain business dealings” due to a number of transactions still in progress, according to a report to the council from Pam Stoker, the city's economic development manager.

Yorba Linda to pay for extra hours in OC Animal Care dog license canvass effort throughout city

Just about two-thirds of Yorba Linda's estimated 14,760 dogs are properly licensed, according to the latest numbers from Orange County Animal Care, the government agency the city pays to provide residents with animal control and shelter services.

So again for the fiscal year beginning July 1, the city will pay extra for increased efforts to “encourage license compliance and provide additional revenue to offset animal service costs,” according to a May 7 report from Allison Estes, assistant to City Manager Mark Pulone.

Last year, the city bought 272 extra hours to supplement the 354 regular hours the agency provides to canvass the community for license violations. The extra hours cost $4,778 and generated $18,000 in additional revenue.

The total 626 hours brought in $73,304, nearly 28 percent more than the $57,480 from the 354 hours the previous year, resulting in close to a 10 percent increase in compliance with licensing requirements, the report noted.

Total cost for the agency's services for the coming year is expected to be $333,411, with factors such as actual costs and reductions due to fee revenue affecting the price to be paid.

Yorba Linda also is paying $512,000 over a 10-year period that will end in 2026 as the city's share for the new $35 million regional animal shelter at 1630 Victory Road in Tustin that opened last year. The shelter takes in about 18,000 animals each year.

The animal care agency has served Yorba Linda since 1986. Among services provided are

patrolling and impounding stray and owner-released animals, rabies control, leash and nuisance enforcement, animal cruelty investigations, citation issuance and collection of impound fees.

Others are renewal of existing licenses, door-to-door canvassing for license compliance, mail-in processing of first-time licenses, board and care of animals at the new shelter and helping residents report barking dog complaints in their neighborhood.

Some changes to the agency's service model for the coming year: reclassifying several animal control officers who retrieve dead animals to lower level positions, encouraging residents to drop off stray trapped cats at the shelter instead of dispatching officers to retrieve them, conducting dog compliance checks only for complaints received and dispatching officers only to urgent stray dog calls.

Fourteen cities and unincorporated county territory, including the East Placentia and Yorba Linda's Fairlynn and Country Club county islands, contract with the agency for animal care services. North county clients are Brea, Fullerton, Placentia and Yorba Linda.

According to the agency's figures, based on a formula provided by the American Veterinary Association, 36.1 percent, or 9,225, of Yorba Linda's 25,554 households own an average 1.6 dogs for a total 14,760 canine population.

Yorba Linda's cat population is estimated at 16,958, with 8,075 households owning an average 2.1 cats each.

Next election for federal, state legislative seats could be deja vu for Yorba Linda's voters

While it's much too early for voters in Yorba Linda and other north county cities to focus on the next election, current office-holders and potential challengers already are busy launching campaign committees, raising funds and securing endorsements for the upcoming ballot.

Contests to represent this area in Congress and the state legislature are shaping up as an example of electoral deja vu, as several of the losers in last year's elections queue up to again run against the candidates who defeated them.

And the March 2020 primary to select the top two finishers in each race to face-off in the November general election will have one new wrinkle: every registered voter will receive a

ballot in the mail they can either return by mail or drop off at any of some 180 vote centers.

The voting centers will replace individual precincts and be supplemented by additional secure drop-off boxes throughout the county for voters to return their mail-in ballots. The centers and boxes will open 11 days before the election, including two weekends.

Candidates for state positions must file an “intention to run” with California's Secretary of State before they can form committees and start collecting money.

Filing in the 55^th Assembly District are two-term incumbent Republican Phillip Chen and Democrat Gregg Fritchle, his opponent in 2016 and 2018. Others are Democrats Michelle Hamilton and Andrew Rodriguez and independent Gabriel Dina-Smith.

The district includes Brea, La Habra, Placentia, Yorba Linda and cities in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. Registration is 37 percent Republican, 32.7 percent Democratic and 26 percent no party preference.

Filing in the 29^th Senate District are incumbent Republican Ling-Ling Chang and Democrat Josh Newman. Newman beat Chang in 2016 by 0.8 percent, but he was recalled last year by a 16.3 percent margin and replaced by Chang, who won a six-person race.

The district includes Brea, Cypress, Fullerton, La Habra, La Palma, Placentia, Stanton, Yorba Linda, parts of Anaheim and Buena Park and cities in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. Registration is 36 percent Democratic, 32.7 percent Republican and 28.4 percent no party preference.

Voters in the 39^th Congressional District again will choose between Democrat Gil Cisneros of Yorba Linda and Republican Young Kim of Fullerton to represent Brea, Buena Park, Fullerton, La Habra, Placentia, Yorba Linda and cities in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties.

Cisneros beat Young by 1.4 percent last year. District registration is 33.8 percent Democratic, 32.7 percent Republican and 29.4 percent no party preference.

The November election might be the last with the current boundaries for local districts, since 2020 census figures could result in newly drawn lines. Changes that occurred after the 2010 census included placing all of Yorba Linda in a single assembly district and one congressional district.

Yorba Linda to receive less than anticipated for sale of a portion of the property once designated for a Friends Christian High School campus

Yorba Linda will receive fewer dollars than anticipated from the sale of a portion of the city-owned property once leased to church groups planning a Friends Christian High School for 1,200 students from mostly North Orange County cities.

Some “concerns in the high-end housing market” and additional soil remediation requirements will result in the city receiving about $2 million less for the property on the north side of Bastanchury Road between Casa Loma and Eureka avenues.

The City Council recently amended the sales agreement with Pacific Cascade Group, which plans to build 23 homes on the southern 13 acres of a 32-acre parcel previously designated for the $53 million campus. The school project was dropped in 2012 due to funding setbacks.

The city now expects to receive nearly $12.6 million for the land, after deducting costs to deliver the property in a “finished lot” condition (rough grading, streets and public infrastructure), soil remediation costs, broker fees and closing escrow costs.

Current plans for the sale proceeds: $7.4 million for the cultural arts center being built in conjunction with a new library on Lakeview Avenue north of Yorba Linda Boulevard, $4.5 million for a Town Center loan repayment and the remainder for operating reserves.

The agreement includes a clause that allows a profit-sharing calculation should the housing market improve. A city-hired financial consultant determined the developer's revised offer “is reflective of the current fair market value.”

The council has yet to decide the fate of the other 19 acres, which are deed-restricted for public use.

Other recent projects, as approved by the Planning Commission:

--A daycare and preschool for ages six months through five years to replace the closed Jo-Ann Fabrics and Crafts store in the Home Ranch Shopping Center anchored by the popular Blue Agave restaurant on Yorba Linda Boulevard.

The remodeled facility, one of 300 national Kiddie Academy Educational Child Care franchises, will house up to 178 children and 21 staff members and be open weekdays 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

A prior preschool operated in the center for a dozen years, 1988-2000. City-required studies showed no adverse parking or noise impacts for the 13,300-square-foot facility with a 10,750-square-foot outdoor play area.

--A 7,300-square-foot space in the Yorba Linda Business Park on the north side of La Palma Avenue as the new home for Yorba Linda Church of Christ, after 50 years at a Eureka Avenue campus.

The location in the area zoned for light industrial includes a 1,605-square-foot main assembly area. Religious and other non-manufacturing uses are allowed in an M-1 zone under a conditional use permit.

The four-acre Eureka Avenue property, used by the church since 1968, was sold to the Islamic Center of Yorba Linda last year for just under $5 million, after the center's lease on a La Palma Avenue business park building was not renewed.