School Split on State Agenda

A petition to split the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District into two systems will be taken up at meetings of the state Board of Education on July 13 and 14, district spokeswoman Nancy Mahr said. She said the agency has definitely put the issue on its July calendar, after a series of postponements over the last six months.

In April, the agency delayed its decision indefinitely when resignations and a death depleted its membership to seven. Two more members have been appointed by Gov. George Deukmejian and confirmed by the state Senate, but it appeared unlikely that another two can be seated before the July meeting to bring the board up to its full membership of 11.

Mahr said a five-member subcommittee is expected to allocate 30 minutes to each side in the secession dispute July 13. The board as a whole will decide the issue at a meeting the next day.

If the board approves the petition, it will also call for an election and decide whether the balloting should be peninsula-wide or limited to the proposed new school district east of Crenshaw Boulevard.

Eastside parents formed the East Peninsula Education Council and launched the secession effort in late 1987, shortly after the school board voted to close their neighborhood campus, Miraleste High School, as part of an effort to cut costs in the district, which has a declining enrollment. The school remains open, pending the outcome of the secession effort.