Saddleback Valley Unified School District (SVUSD) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

school district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public primary and secondary schools in various nations. North America United States In the U.S, most K–12 public schools function as units of local school districts, wh ...

in South

Orange County, California Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, a ...

. It includes 23

elementary schools A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

, four

intermediate school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...

s, four comprehensive

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

s, and four

alternative school An alternative school is an educational establishment with a curriculum and methods that are nontraditional. Such schools offer a wide range of philosophies and teaching methods; some have strong political, scholarly, or philosophical orientati ...

s. It serves all of Lake Forest,

Laguna Hills Laguna Hills (; ''Laguna'', Spanish for "Lagoon") is a city in south Orange County, California, United States. Its name refers to its proximity to Laguna Canyon and the much older Laguna Beach. Other newer cities nearby—Laguna Niguel and Lagun ...

Laguna Woods Laguna Woods (''Laguna'', Spanish for "Lagoon") is a city in Orange County, California, United States. The population was 16,192 at the 2010 census, down from 16,507 at the 2000 census, with a median age of 78. Laguna Woods became Orange Count ...

and serves parts of

Mission Viejo Mission Viejo ( ; corruption of ''Misión Vieja'', Spanish for "Old Mission") is a commuter city in the Saddleback Valley in Orange County, California, United States. Mission Viejo is considered one of the largest master-planned communities eve ...

Aliso Viejo Aliso Viejo (Spanish for "Old Sycamore") is a city in the San Joaquin Hills of southern Orange County, California. It had a population of 47,823 as of the 2010 census, up from 40,166 as of the 2000 census. It became Orange County's 34th city on ...

Rancho Santa Margarita :''This article refers to the San Luis Obispo County, California, land grant. For the city of Rancho Santa Margarita, see Rancho Santa Margarita, California'' Rancho Santa Margarita was a Mexican land grant in the Santa Lucia Mountains, in ...

, and a very small portion of Irvine. Most of Trabuco, Modjeska, and Dove Canyon is in the school district, and communities such as

Foothill Ranch Foothill Ranch is a master planned community in Orange County, California, United States. The population was 10,899 at the 2000 census. Foothill Ranch was incorporated into the city of Lake Forest, California, in 2000. Prior to that, it was a c ...

and

Portola Hills Portola Hills is a district in the city of Lake Forest, California in Orange County, United States. It was formerly an unincorporated community and census-designated place before it was annexed into Lake Forest in 2000. The population was 6,391 at ...

are also served by the district.

Schools

High schools

El Toro High School El Toro High School is a public high school in Lake Forest, California, United States. It is one of five high schools in the Saddleback Valley Unified School District (SVUSD) and serves Lake Forest and its district of Portola Hills and a small po ...

Laguna Hills High School Laguna Hills High School (LHHS) is a public and high school located in Laguna Hills, California. The innovative programs include the Golden-Bell Award-Winning Two-Way Language Immersion Program, Awards and recognition *LHHS has historically ha ...

Mission Viejo High School Mission Viejo High School is a four-year comprehensive education, comprehensive State school, public secondary education in the United States, high school located in Mission Viejo, California, United States, as part of the Saddleback Valley Unif ...

* Silverado High School *

Trabuco Hills High School Trabuco Hills High School is a high school in Mission Viejo, California, United States. It is in the Saddleback Valley Unified School District. Awards THHS has received: *2002 National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence. Demographics The demogra ...

Intermediate schools

La Paz Intermediate SchoolLos Alisos Intermediate SchoolRancho Santa Margarita Intermediate SchoolSerrano Intermediate School

Elementary schools

*Cielo Vista Elementary School *Cordillera Elementary School (Closed) *de Portola Elementary School *Del Cerro Elementary School *Del Lago Elementary School *Foothill Ranch Elementary School *Gates Dual Language Immersion Elementary School *Glen Yermo Elementary School *Lake Forest Elementary School *La Madera Elementary School (GATE) *La Tierra Early Education Center *Linda Vista Magnet Elementary School (IB World School) *Lomarena Elementary School *Melinda Heights Elementary School *Montevideo Elementary School *Olivewood Elementary School *Portola Hills Elementary School *Rancho Cañada Elementary School *Robinson Elementary School *San Joaquin Elementary School *Santiago STEAM Magnet Elementary School *Trabuco Elementary School *Trabuco Mesa Elementary School (GATE) *Valencia Elementary School

Alternative Schools

Esperanza Education CenterHigh School Credit Recovery
* Silverado High School
Virtual Academy

Saddleback Virtual Academy

Th
SVUSD Virtual Academy
serves students at the Elementary, Intermediate, and High School levels.

Sex abuse allegations

On March 23, 2022, two former

students filed a civil suit in Orange County Superior Court alleging that James Harris, husband of SVUSD visual and performing arts coordinator Kathy Cannarozzi Harris and a substitute teacher at the school, groomed them and sexually abused them in the late 1990s. One of the plaintiffs was 15 at the time. The women allege that Kathy Harris personally observed the abuse, which allegedly occurred on the Mission Viejo High School campus and at her home. According to the filing, they reported the abuse to the SVUSD several times over the course of two decades, but no decisive action was taken. Jim Harris denied the allegations to the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

''. The SVUSD said it was investigating. Kathy Harris still teaches at the school.

References

External links

* School districts in Orange County, California Mission Viejo, California {{OrangeCountyCA-school-stub