OAKLEY - Some Oakley children who have to go to school in Antioch may finally be able to attend in their city after a decision by the school board.

A group of 300 children, dubbed the "Oakley Orphans," live on the west side of Empire Road and have had to attend Antioch schools despite having an Oakley address.

During its March 12 meeting, the board of trustees for the Oakley Union School District adopted a resolution to allow inter-district transfers from the neighborhood in an effort to unify the city's residents.

James Haslip, the superintendent, said it was important to him and the school board to represent all of Oakley.

"Oakley is a new city and to have it united seems so important," he said.

Haslip also said there have been many efforts to annex that neighborhood, which is technically unincorporated and within the Antioch Unified School District.

In a letter sent home to students, he said: "Annexation of this territory from the Antioch district has proven to be impossible at this time due to legal and financial difficulties."

Kevin Romick, Oakley's planning commissioner, lives in the divided neighborhood in southwest Oakley and has two daughters in Antioch schools. One is in middle school and the other will start high school next year.

For the last three years, he has advocated changing the school district's boundaries so his girls along with other "Oakley Orphans" can attend school with their neighborhood friends.

Romick even gave the group its catchy title and has even set up a Web site, www.oakleyorphans.com.

"It is bizarre to have kids from the same neighborhood go to different schools," he said. "It's really tough for the kids to have two separate groups of friends, one at school and one at home."

Haslip said the district should be able to accommodate the additional students because of an expected enrollment drop and the reconfiguration of classrooms at two schools near the Empire Road neighborhood.

"We could figure up to 100 kids, but we're guessing based on the number of applications that we'll only have 30 to 40 transfers ... that we can absorb," he said.