District signs 5-year rental lease for DMC, Vista Meridian juniors and seniors remain on campus

A local charter high school is now renting spaces at two Santa Ana College campuses after the district approved a 5-year half-million-dollar lease for the Digital Media Center late last year.

The Rancho Santiago Community College District Board of Trustees approved a rental lease to allow Vista Meridian Global Academy to use the second floor of an off-campus facility for the high school’s freshmen and sophomores.

“It is anticipated that Vista Meridian will continue to use these facilities on SAC’s Main Campus through the end of the spring term,” said Vista Charter Public Schools Superintendent Collin Felch.

Several hundred high school freshmen and sophomores moved into the second floor of the DMC in mid-January, while SAC students were on winter break. Digital Media Department faculty at the DMC stated that the high school classes are held on the second floor, which used to house the Orange County Small Business Development Center, and the Vista Meridian students do not interact with the SAC students.

Vista Meridian’s 11th and 12th graders continue to take classes at SAC’s main campus and are expected to remain on campus until the end of the spring semester.

Vista Meridian continues its dual enrollment relationship with SAC and currently pays $308 per day to rent classrooms on the main campus in the I and L buildings and spaces in the A and D buildings. These spaces are subject to change.

The Orange County Small Business Development Center had not been using the second floor of the DMC, and the college was not using the space effectively.

“The small business development center occupied that space up until the past few months. It was very underutilized, something you wouldn’t want to see just sitting there with very low occupancy,” said Santa Ana College Vice President of Administrative Services Bart Hoffman in an August interview.

The second floor, which was previously an office space, was remodeled to accommodate the high schoolers.

The lease was approved at the final board meeting of 2024, with only Trustee Zeke Hernandez voting against it.

“I feel the board did not fully discuss leasing of college facilities and have not [considered] all the options for the use of the DMC,” said Hernandez.

Once the lease ends or is terminated, SAC must decide how to use the space.

“We would have to undertake the cost of restoring the second floor or converting it back to what it was before [it was remodeled],” said Hernandez.