O.C.’s Oldest High School Spruces Up : Education: Officials hope that construction will boost student pride and soften Santa Ana High’s tough reputation.

SANTA ANA —  Robert L. Richardson remembers when his high school sports teams would travel to other schools, and the opponents would chant, “We got money, we got money, how about you?” Richardson, who graduated from Santa Ana High School in 1979 and now sits on the Santa Ana City Council, calls the chant “pretty cutting.”

But now, Santa Ana High School has come into money--$12.3 million--to pay for new classrooms, a new central courtyard, and that bane of high school existence--a cafeteria.

Last night, the high school was rededicated in a ceremony that included speeches by Richardson, who was class president, and performances by the school’s ballet folklorico dancers.

Officials hope that new construction will bring more than physical improvements by boosting student participation and pride at Orange County’s oldest high school, which has a reputation as a tough school.

“Santa Ana schools have improved,” says Kathi Jo Brunning, president of the Santa Ana Council of PTA’s, who graduated from the high school and expects to send her oldest child there in two years. “But unfortunately, Santa Ana High School has a reputation as being dangerous.”

That reputation may have a basis in fact, according to statistics from the Santa Ana Unified School District. Of the district’s four high schools, Santa Ana has the lowest enrollment figure with just over 2,400 students. Last year, the school expelled the most students of any high school in the district: 25.

Not including the district’s two continuation high schools, Santa Ana High had the highest ratio of students expelled: 1.06% of the student body.

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Principal Lewis Bratcher is aware of the school’s reputation, but says a spruced-up campus can push kids to take school more seriously.

“When you remodel your house, you feel differently about your house, and the students feel good about Santa Ana High School,” said Bratcher, as he toured the campus Wednesday, walkie-talkie in hand. “New buildings will help us.”

Among the new additions is a two-story, 31,000-square-foot building that houses science labs, computer rooms and a career and counseling center.

Another building, No. 16, was converted into a choir room, instrument room and other music rooms. The bottom level previously was an open air plaza with lunch benches, and the new walls have panels set side by side at 45-degree angles to improve sound.

Within one year, the cafeteria will be expanded, and a new parking lot and two-story, 10-classroom math building will be completed.

The new classrooms are aimed at alleviating sprawl on the 24-acre campus, by eliminating the need for 18 bungalows. The two new parking lots, which will provide about 350 parking spaces, will keep students from parking in an adjacent neighborhood. The campus also was given a new central courtyard, the Plaza Del Sol.

Improvements, first planned in 1986 and funded with state money, constitute the first major school construction since 1974.

“It’s giving us a totally new perspective,” said Bratcher, who is beginning his fourth year as the school principal.

Students in the Plaza Del Sol at lunchtime Wednesday agreed that the new buildings make the campus look better. And one, senior Colleen Irwin, smiled and said the new architecture may have even inspired her to work harder.

“Now that we have the image [of an improved campus], we want to bring our grades up,” said Irwin, 17, who is on the school’s pep squad.

When it comes to the latest SAT scores, Santa Ana students score below the statewide average of 417 verbal and 485 math with scores of 312 verbal and 410 math. But when it comes to Advanced Placement exams, students are above the statewide average. On a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest, 68.7% of Santa Ana students received a 3 or better as of the May, 1995, tests. Statewide, the number was 64.7%.

“They are doing well,” said Vergil Hettick, the district’s coordinator for testing and evaluation.

The school was founded on the second floor of a grammar school building in 1889, and the first graduating class, in 1893, numbered 13.

In 1900, the school moved to a large brick building, which it shared with the Santa Ana Junior College. In 1913, the school moved to its current location on West Walnut Street, and was rebuilt after the 1933 Long Beach Earthquake.

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The current student body is 95% Latino, and is slightly smaller than the district’s most populous high school, Valley High School, which has 2,701 students.

Richardson, who was chairman of Santa Ana High’s 1989 Centennial Celebration Committee, remembers Santa Ana High as an underdog because the students had a reputation for being from the wrong side of the tracks.

“You go to other schools, and it’s like, ‘Oh, you’re from Santa Ana,’ and they would raise their eyebrows,” said Richardson. “It gave us an edge.”

But when it came to academic and athletic competitions, Richardson added, “When we won something, it was that much sweeter.”

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School Money

Santa Ana High School, the oldest in Orange County, received $12.3 million in state funding that paid for a new building and improvements to the 106-year old campus. Some details on the school and the renovations:

* Opened: 1889

* Number in first graduating class: 13

* Current student population: 2,429

* Famous alumni: Actress-director Diane Keaton, singer Bill Medley of the Righteous Brothers

New two-story building includes:

* 118 computers

* Counseling/career center

* Science rooms/labs

* Media center

Renovations to existing buildings:

* Additional classrooms

* Performing arts center

* Expansion of cafeteria

Source: Santa Ana Unified School District