A need for more classrooms and a desire to improve student achievement contributed to the decision by the Capistrano Unified School District to offer a K-8 school option for parents recently. The two-year journey began as a consequence of overcrowding at 10 middle schools. One section of the district, had spent several years unsuccessfully trying to locate an appropriate site for a new middle school. They then decided to look at existing elementary schools for options. One of the area's K-5 elementary schools, Arroyo Vista, had once housed nearly 1,300 students, but its enrollment had declined to fewer than 800 students and remained on a downhill trend. Its feeder middle school housed 1,800 students in grades 6-8. Rather than relocate the elementary students and reconfigure Arroyo Vista as a middle school, the district decided to explore the expansion of the school to serve students K-8 within its existing attendance zone.