Heritage Committee Wants O'Neill School Kept Open

    Parents of the O’Neill School have enlisted the assistance of the MV Heritage Committee in their fight to keep the school open.  The Committee is now asking the City Council to endorse a letter petitioning the Saddleback District to retain O’Neill.  

    On  March 6 the Dispatch broke the news of a school closing plan by SVUSD, which could include the shutting of O’Neill Elementary beginning in 2009-2010, due to a district-wide decline in enrollment.  Four other potential schools were included on the list, and 2-4 four of those 5 schools may be closed.

    A proposed letter by Nancy Cho, Chairperson of the Heritage Committee, states:

    The Mission Viejo Heritage Committee supports the sustaining and continued maintenance and operation of the Marguerite M. O’Neill Elementary School in deference to other schools in the community because of its historical significance. This school is one of the integral aspects of our Mission Viejo history.

    History of the school includes that on April 10, 1967 ground was broken for the construction of this elementary school – the first Mission Viejo Elementary School. It was named in honor of Marguerite M. O’Neill, who at age 88 was the oldest member of O’Neill family – who owned the 53,000 acre Rancho Mission Viejo Co., and had been involved with this property since 1882. At this special groundbreaking, besides Mrs. O’Neill, was her grandson Anthony “Tony” Moiso, who at that time was a vice-president of the Mission Viejo Company. Without the O’Neill influence, there would never have been a Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, Coto de Caza, Trabuco Hills, Portola Hills, Foothill Ranch, or Ladera Ranch.

    The Elementary School was completed in the late fall, and students began attending in December 1967 although the official dedication wasn’t until February 9, 1968. At the dedication of the school, Mrs. O’Neill also presented a check for $500 to start the school’s library. Four generations of the O’Neill family gathered, that day, in the school library and included the head of the family Mrs. Marguerite M. O’Neill, grandsons’ Jerome, Richard, and Anthony Moiso, granddaughters-in-law Mrs. Waldo Avery & Mrs. Jerome Moiso, and great-granddaughter Katrina Moiso.

    The Committee’s arguments do not challenge the District’s operational or financial considerations for the potential closing of O’Neill.