Local News in Brief : New School Districts Proposed

Hermosa Beach City School District trustees voted Wednesday to meet with their counterparts in Redondo Beach to discuss a Redondo Beach City School District proposal to create two new unified school districts, one based in Redondo Beach and one in Manhattan Beach.

There are four school districts in the three beach cities, separate grade school districts in each of the cities and one high school district serving all the cities. The Redondo Beach proposal, which officials there say is sketchy and still under study, would effectively eliminate the South Bay Union High School District.

Instead, the new Redondo Beach district would have responsibility for grade-school and high-school students in Redondo Beach, and the Manhattan Beach district would have responsibility for students there. Hermosa Beach, which has no high school, would have to decide which district to join.

Hermosa Beach officials, meanwhile, said they have not made up their minds about the Redondo Beach plan or any other.

“We felt that anytime the other boards want to get together and discuss an issue, we would . . . participate and listen to what they have to say,” said Hermosa Beach board member Lynne Gonzales. “It’s nothing more than that.”

There is little chance that the three cities would form one unified district because Redondo Beach officials have rejected a plan by the existing high school district that calls for unification.