Local News in Brief : Schools Face Losing Land

The Los Angeles Unified School District, which has not honored an agreement with the federal government to build a high school at a former military site in San Pedro, has until March 31 to come up with another plan to retain the 47-acre parcel.

Byron Kimbell, director of the district’s building services division, said school officials are working on a plan, and that one proposal under consideration would include establishing a marine biology center at the site.

The federal government deeded the property, once part of the Fort MacArthur Army base, to the school district in 1979. The deed requires the district to use the land for “education purposes,” and specifically calls for a high school to be built there. If the deed is not fulfilled, the government has the right to reclaim the property.

The district uses the land for an adult education center, a continuation school and a summer camp. Kimbell said there is no need for a high school at the site, and that school officials intend to propose other educational uses to the federal government and ask that the high school requirement be deleted from the deed.