Lutheran High Denied Lease at La Canada Site

La Canada Unified School District board members voted Tuesday to retain the tenants at the 13-acre Foothill Intermediate School site, spurning an attempt by Lutheran High School to relocate its 465 students there.

Lutheran High officials had hoped to move the school from 7500 N. Glenoaks Blvd., Burbank, to the Foothill campus. The Burbank site was sold to Woodbury University, which is scheduled to move to the site in the fall.

Lutheran had originally sought to lease the Foothill site for 10 years at $400,000 a year, and later said it would accept a shorter lease. But residents near the Foothill school site protested, saying they feared that Lutheran High students would increase litter, loitering and traffic in the neighborhood.

The Rev. John Perling, chairman of the board of Lutheran High, said a school search committee is reviewing 12 other possible locations in Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley.

Twelve tenants--seven private schools and five businesses--now lease the Foothill campus. Two tenants, Leeway School and the School for Individual Achievement, have said they will not return in the fall.

Mark Facer, district deputy superintendent, said rents for the five remaining tenant schools--Victory (La Canada) Montessori, Progressive Montessori, The Delphi Academy, Pinewood Academy and the Basic Education Center--will increase from $200,000 to $300,000 a year.

About 400 students attend the five private schools, which offer curricula ranging from a high school preparatory program to special education for the disabled. The schools have their own classrooms but share lunch and recreational facilities.