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Orange Unified's expanded learning program reports 12,520 student enrollments and new summer offerings
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Summary
District staff presented a detailed overview of 2026 summer enrichment, reporting 12,520 students enrolled in expanded-learning offerings, expanded partnerships, intramurals, field trips and special-education extended-year sites; trustees pressed for details on waitlists and access for unduplicated pupil populations.
Orange Unified School District presented its 2026 summer enrichment plan to the board on March 26, highlighting growth in offerings, partnerships and student participation. Lisa Green, executive director for TK'12 curriculum and instruction, introduced the expanded-learning team and said the district's base programming now serves 30 site locations with a cross-district curriculum that includes career education, CTE pathways, arts, STEM and social-emotional learning.
Adolfo Herrera and Jamie Beiler described how the district consolidated earlier fee-based and free programs under one department (CARES, ACES and the ELOP expansion) and is using a Continuous Quality Improvement model to monitor program quality. Staff said course offerings grew from 183 at the start of the year to 626 for spring, and reported that "as of Friday" 12,520 OUSD students were enrolled in at least one expanded-learning course.
The presentation listed enhancements for summer including new field trips (Chapman University's Hilbert Museum and water-safety/swim lessons via local partners), intramural sports and tournaments, middle-school color guard, and career-connected weekly themes tied to CTE pathways. The special-education department described extended-school-year (ESY) sites and schedules (elementary ESY at Prospect and Cambridge 8 a.m. to noon; secondary and adult transition ESY at Villa Park High 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.) and announced a Pathways to Achievement boot camp to help high-school students recoup credits.
Board members asked detailed operational questions about waitlists, whether parents without internet access were being reached, how many unduplicated pupil population (UPP) students were being served and whether dual-enrollment courses on high school campuses would be taught by Santiago Canyon College faculty or qualified OUSD teachers. Staff said they accept subsidized funding sources (Children's Home Society, Orange County Department of Education, CalWORKs), are adding more providers to reduce waitlists, plan a districtwide base-program rotation so core offerings reach every site, and will use ParentSquare, SchoolMessenger, paper surveys and in-person outreach to reach families.
Trustees also raised programming ideas such as internships or research opportunities and asked for an advance catalog of dual-enrollment offerings. Staff said some College for Kids courses have limited space and transportation constraints to Santiago Canyon College, but they are working to bring similar experiences onto district sites and to expand access next summer. The board thanked staff for the expanded offerings and for improvements to registration and program access.
