2 Campuses Picked in Norwalk, La Mirada : Middle School Reopening Plans Scaled Down

The Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District board, which recently decided to reopen six middle schools throughout the district, has scaled back its plans.

School board members, facing protests from parents who feared that elementary schools would be closed under the previous middle-school plan, decided this week to open only two middle schools for grades six through eight, and make enrollment voluntary.

Corvallis school in Norwalk and Benton school in La Mirada would be reopened to accommodate up to 1,400 students. The previous middle-school plan would have accommodated more than 4,000 students, officials said.

The board made its decision Monday after a 3-hour study session attended by more than 200 parents. Many were concerned that elementary schools would be converted to middle schools. They carried several placards that read: “Don’t close elementary schools. Open middle schools.”

Noelle Jaimez, a spokesman for the parents, said the group favored middle schools but did not want elementary schools closed. A proposal to close the elementary schools was on the study session agenda, but the board never discussed it.

Several board members, including board President Jesse Luera, told the audience they were against closing elementary schools.

District Supt. Bruce C. Newlin said the revised plan “appears to be the best option available to us and does not require closing schools. The others (plans) also were much more expensive.”

A special property tax or flat tax on parcels of property is being considered to help finance the new plan, Newlin said. A parcel tax, estimated at $50 a year, would be placed on the ballot next June, when municipal elections are scheduled. The tax would have to be approved by two-thirds of the voters.

Newlin said the district also would consider selling a couple of its school properties that are being leased to private organizations.

It would cost an estimated $1.9 million to open both schools, which are being leased to private organizations, and another $800,000 the first year to maintain the schools, officials said.

School officials had closed 15 schools, including all seven middle schools, more than a decade ago because of declining enrollment.