SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : District Closer to Building High School

The Capistrano Unified School District last week moved one step closer to beginning construction of a high school in Aliso Viejo, which could open for the 1993-94 school year.

The district’s Board of Trustees unanimously awarded a contract of about $22 million to Shirley Brothers Construction, the same firm that built Dana Hills High School 20 years ago.

The new school, which will be called Aliso Niguel High School, will be near the intersection of Laguna Hills Drive and Aliso Creek Road and will have about 2,200 students.

District officials are planning a groundbreaking ceremony for the school next month and construction is scheduled to begin soon after. The district hopes to open the school in September, 1993, said district spokeswoman Jacqueline Price.

Although attendance boundaries for the new high school will not be decided until next spring, most of the school’s population will be students now attending Dana Hills High. Some students who live in the current attendance boundaries of Capistrano Valley High School may also be affected, Price said.

The school will have 200,000 square feet of space, including 80 classrooms, a gymnasium, food service facilities, a library, performing arts facilities and 10,833 square feet of administration space.

The school will also have athletic fields and office space, but construction of a football stadium and a swimming pool are not yet included in plans for the school. They will be added when funds become available, district officials said.

Aliso Niguel High will be the district’s fourth high school and the first since Capistrano Valley High opened in 1977.