Campus to Be Reopened as College-Prep Academy

Easing community concerns, educators this week said they will reopen the former Oxford Junior High School as a campus specializing in college-preparatory, science and math courses.

The plans by the Anaheim Union High School District come after months of debate over the future of the Orange Avenue campus, leased the last seven years to a Christian school.

In a meeting Monday with residents and Cypress leaders, district officials said that Oxford Academy will open in September, offering rigorous college-prep courses for seventh- and eighth-graders; students in grades 9 through 12 will specialize in either medical or international science.

The district will require strict entrance exams and will limit enrollment to 1,000.

Cypress Councilman Tim Keenan said the plans appeared to satisfy residents, many of whom had feared the campus would be used as a continuation school. He said the academy will be a boost for the city.

The district voted last year to resume using the school, notifying Brethren Christian Junior-Senior High School that it would have to move by the end of the school year.

The district expects to complete an agreement in May allowing Cypress to continue using the school’s fields and auditorium for community programs, Supt. Jan Billings said.