OCEANSIDE — The Oceanside Unified School District is planning to relocate middle school students at North Terrace Elementary to a school on the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base during a $90 million campus rebuild, raising some community concerns about additional security requirements for families.
North Terrace is a K-8 school along Santa Rosa Drive, with a mix of Camp Pendleton and off-base civilian families. Around 195 students from six middle school classes, along with nine teachers, will be relocated to Santa Margarita Elementary beginning this fall while the campus undergoes a major rebuild.
The rebuild will start this summer and is expected to be complete in May 2029, impacting three school years.
North Terrace’s new campus will be built on the sports field adjacent to the existing school. Elementary students will remain at the current campus during construction and then move over to the new campus upon completion, at which point the old school buildings will be demolished and replaced with new sports fields.
“The North Terrace School Rebuild stands as one of our most significant upcoming initiatives and serves as a premier example of strategic collaboration,” said OUSD spokesperson Donald Bendz. “This is a $90 million-plus project, dually funded through a unique partnership between the District — utilizing Measure W bond funds to pay 20% of the costs — and the Department of Defense (DoD) funding the remaining 80%.”
The rebuild will change the layout of the 1956 campus to be more centralized around the administration building, providing a secure point of entry in alignment with base standards.
It will also feature two-story elementary school buildings, a large library facing the center of the campus, a multipurpose building with a raised stage for performances and gatherings, a new gymnasium, and middle school buildings equipped with science labs and increased learning space.
District leaders said bus service will be provided between North Terrace and Santa Margarita at the beginning and end of every school day, to make the transition easier for students living off base.
Because Santa Margarita is on a secure portion of the base, off-base family members will have to be approved for entry at Camp Pendleton’s visitor access gate before they can go to the school.
Camp Pendleton’s security requirements limit access to those who are 18 years or older, U.S. citizens, and have a Real ID. This means North Terrace parents who are undocumented won’t be able to come to the Santa Margarita campus at all under Camp Pendleton’s regulations.
“If you do not meet those criteria, please, do not submit those people for base access,” Camp Pendleton Community Liaison Dan Whitley said at a Feb. 11 community presentation.
Several people shared concerns about these limitations at the Oceanside Unified School District board’s April 14 meeting.
“Some of us, including families like myself, cannot obtain access to federal military installations. We will be physically barred from our children and students. We will not be able to attend open houses, school events or even pick up our own children. This is a fundamental failure in ensuring equal access to public education,” said one parent.
District officials said they decided to move the middle school students because there will not be enough room at North Terrace for all students during construction, and that Santa Margarita has the needed space.
OUSD Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Todd McAteer also said in February that the move will be convenient for on-base families.
“The thought behind it is, the majority of the middle school students are on base already, and that school campus is very close in proximity to the Wire Mountain housing,” McAteer said at the meeting. “It does create a little bit of a hardship for civilian-side students and families.”
Some North Terrace seventh-grade teachers said they wished the district had collaborated more with teachers before deciding to move the middle school students to Santa Margarita. They also questioned the district’s reasoning for making the move.
“Dr McAteer’s decision to move North Terrace middle school and preschool didn’t involve anyone directly affected by the decision. As a result, there isn’t a single staff member at North Terrace who agrees with the decision, and more importantly, there isn’t anyone at our site who understands why the decision was made,” said Nick Hatter, a 7th/8th-grade math teacher at North Terrace.
English and language arts teacher Kristina Pichitino said relocating the middle school students means many of them will lose access to their neighborhood school. She also said it’s difficult to trust the district’s decision.
“Important decisions like this are best made by gathering all the information you can from as many people as you can. Our village is here,” Pichitino said.
Bendz said only 45 out of the 195 middle school students at North Terrace live off base, and that five of these students requested to switch to a different off-base middle school next year. Another five from outside schools have asked to attend North Terrace next year.
Bendz also said the district has held multiple meetings with families about the planned project and the relocation of middle school students, and has met with school staff.
“We have received no parent complaints/concerns from any families living off base. While OUSD does not collect information on the immigration status of families, we are ready and able to respond to any and all parent/guardian concerns,” Bendz said. “We communicated the process for transfer very clearly to families and we extended the timeline just for North Terrace families so they would have plenty of time to make an informed decision. Nobody was denied their request, nor will they be if we receive any additional requests.”
Federal funding for the rebuild comes from the Department of Defense Community Infrastructure Program. The project is a collaboration between the school district, the Department of Defense, Camp Pendleton, and other agencies.
Oceanside Unified is also completing several other projects on district property using funds from measures W and H. Several school sites are undergoing modernization, including major projects at Jefferson Middle School and Surfside Educational Academy.
The district also utilized developer impact fees and property sales revenue to update the district office, a $25 million project, and the operations center, estimated at $30 million.
