Redondo Opts for Own Unified School System

In a surprise move that could accelerate unification of school districts in three beach cities, the Redondo Beach school board has decided to form its own kindergarten-through-12th-grade system.

The 4-1 decision Tuesday apparently closes the door on proposals to form a single large district by consolidating elementary schools in Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach with the South Bay Union High School District.

If successful, the Redondo Beach plan would lead to the dissolution of the high school district that serves the three cities. Redondo Beach would take over Redondo Union High School, leaving Manhattan Beach to form a separate K-12 district around the grade schools in that city and its local high school, Mira Costa.

The small district in Hermosa Beach would merge its single elementary school with one of the new unified systems. Redondo Beach, in mapping out its own plan, formally invited Hermosa Beach to join.

‘Control Our Destiny’

“It’s time to move forward,” Redondo Beach board President Rebecca Sargent said Wednesday. “We have a great opportunity here to control our own destiny. We will be able to continue the programs that we believe are best for our children.”

Sargent said the board has all the information it needs on the unification issue and is confident that most residents want to maintain local control rather than become part of a larger school system.

Supt. Nick Parras said Wednesday that he expects to come up with a detailed unification plan by fall. After public hearings, the plan would be converted to a petition that would have to be signed by at least 25% of the city’s registered voters to qualify for review by county and state agencies. Hermosa Beach voters would be included if that city decides to join the new Redondo Beach school system, he said.

In Hermosa Beach, Supt. Shalee Cunningham said her board wants to keep its options open until “we get more input from the community.” She said a survey will be started next week.

“We graduate about 100 students a year, and most of them go to Redondo Union,” she said. “There’s a tremendous loyalty to that school.”

The final step in the unification process is a vote in the affected communities, which presumably would be the three beach cities. Parras said such an election could occur as early as fall, 1990, and a new, unified district could begin operations a year later.

Trustee Sylvia Zellers cast the only vote against Redondo Beach going it alone. She said a larger school system would provide more educational advantages.

Noel Palm, president of the high school district, said he was surprised by Redondo Beach’s abrupt decision to break off discussions with the other districts. The talks began in January, at the high school district’s behest, and expanded into several public hearings.

Last week, the boards of the four districts tentatively agreed to hire a consultant to study the pros and cons of a single, 10,000-student system.

“At this point, we don’t know where this is going,” Palm said. “It’s out of our hands.”

If the district is split between Redondo Beach and Manhattan Beach, Palm said, Mira Costa will lose about one-third of its students, making it too small to continue many of the elective programs offered there and at Redondo Union. Students lost by Mira Costa would go to Redondo Union, where enrollment would rise to about 2,000, he said.

Each school now has about 1,500 students, but that level at Mira Costa has been maintained by assigning 400 to 500 Redondo Beach students to the campus in Manhattan Beach, he said.

“We’re used to thinking about the welfare of students in all three cities,” Palm said. “We’re concerned that splitting the (high school) district will not be in the best interests of some students.”

Enrollment in all the districts has fallen sharply in the last 15 to 20 years. Unification has been proposed in the past, but the movement this year is the first that appears almost certain to result in mergers.