| Orange Unified School District | |
| Address: | 1401 North Handy Street |
| City: | Orange |
| State: | California |
| Zipcode: | 92867 |
| Country: | United States |
| Type: | Public |
| Grades: | Kâ12 |
| Established: | 1953 |
| Superintendent: | Edward Velasquez |
| Deputy Superintendent: | --> |
| Accreditation: | --> |
| Enrollment: | 25,420 (2020â2021) |
| Teachers: | 1,025.26 (FTE) |
| Staff: | 2,146.32 (FTE) |
| Ratio: | 24.79:1 |
| Colours: | --> |
Orange Unified School District (OUSD) is a public school district headquartered in Orange, California.
Orange USD serves the cities of Orange and Villa Park, the unincorporated land of Silverado, and parts of Anaheim, Garden Grove, Santa Ana, and an unpopulated area of Yorba Linda. Its student enrollment during the 2004â2005 school year was 31,600.
The Orange Unified School District was formed in 1953, when citizens in the City of Orange voted to form a school district, which combined five elementary districts with one high school district.[1] [2]
In 2003, Orange USD gave territory to the Tustin Unified School District.[3]
The district operates 29 elementary, 5 middle, 4 high schools, a continuation high school, a K-8 math and science magnet school and two special schools. Nineteen of its forty-two schools have been recognized as California Distinguished Schools. Three of its high schools are consistently listed among Newsweek's 1,000 Best Public High Schools in America.Some elementary and middle schools within the district also continue to achieve above average standardized test scores and national distinctions, while others are state designated Underperforming Schools under No Child Left Behind Act's sanctions.[4] Generally, its highest performing schools are in the Anaheim Hills area where all schools have been named California Distinguished Schools and constantly rank among the best schools in the county, while schools in the City of Orange tend to have lower standardized test scores.
In 1999, the Orange Unified School District voted unanimously to prohibit the formation of a Gay-Straight Alliance at El Modena High School. The students sued the school board, claiming that their rights under the First Amendment and the 1984 Equal Access Act had been violated. In the first-ever ruling of its kind, Judge David O. Carter of the United States District Court for the Central District of California issued a preliminary injunction ordering the school to allow the GSA to meet. After a settlement was agreed upon, the students were allowed to meet and were given access to school resources equal to all other campus clubs.[5]