ELECTION ’89 : Classroom Space Debated in Hermosa Schools Race

Where once the Hermosa Beach City School District grappled with the problem of declining enrollment, the school board now faces the reverse dilemma: Enrollment in the one-school district is on the rise, and the district needs more classroom space.

Four candidates--two incumbents and two challengers--are seeking three open board seats in Tuesday’s election. The candidates agree that finding more room is the most urgent problem facing the district, closely followed by the question of whether to unify with other school districts in the beach cities.

The district’s 725 kindergarten through eighth-grade students all attend Hermosa Valley School and after graduation go to Redondo Union High School.

In 1986, because of declining enrollment, the district closed two schools--both of which are now leased--and consolidated students at Hermosa Valley. As enrollment increased last year, however, the district set up a portable building with two classrooms to ease a space shortage.

At first, Hermosa’s rise in enrollment was gradual, from 645 students in 1985 to 666 in 1987, district officials said. But by 1989 enrollment had increased by another 59 students to 725.

One possible solution to the space shortage is a proposal to purchase the Multivision Cable site adjacent to the school for expansion, the candidates said.

There are three years remaining on leases for the two sites closed in ’86. Both sites are too large for current needs, school officials said, although terms of one lease would allow the district to take over the site if needed. A third property, the former South School site, has only four classrooms and is too far from Hermosa Valley to be used effectively, board members said. Part of the South School site was sold for development several years ago and most of the school facilities were demolished then.

The board has not taken a position on the unification issue, but has joined with the school boards from Manhattan Beach and the South Bay Union High School District in hiring a consultant to study eight different unification configurations. Among the possibilities are organizing districts along city lines and combining the three elementary districts and the high school district into one. The consultant’s report is due in January.

The board meets monthly and members are paid $35 per meeting. Board member Georgia Tattu is not seeking reelection.

Here are the four candidates and their views on the issues:

Bill Druar, 46, an electronics technician and businessman, is a 19-year resident of the city. Druar has a son who attends Hermosa Valley School.

Druar said he is opposed to unification and that, despite efforts to study whether some form of unification is viable, he said he is unlikely to change his mind.

“I think that we would lose control of our local school,” Druar said. “We would be unified with a larger district which would have a stronger voice on the board and they would control the board. . . . I don’t think they’re going to be able to come up with a unification plan I would like.”

Although voters passed an initiative in 1984 preserving surplus school property as open space, Druar said he would like to see the city allow some development in addition to park use on the South School site, whose sale to the city is under negotiation.

If a portion of the property is rezoned for development, Druar said, it could generate more money for the district to help finance construction of a gym and buy the Multivision property for expansion.

* Incumbent Lynne Gonzales, 42, is seeking her second full term on the board. She was first elected to the board in 1984 to fill an unexpired term of a member who was elected to the City Council. A private school secretary, Gonzales has three children who graduated from Hermosa schools.

Gonzales strongly favors unification of the four beach city school districts.

“The districts should all be unified rather than in pieces,” Gonzales said. “I feel that total unification is the best way to go.”

Gonzales said she would not object to keeping the district as it is, but argued that unification could help bring in more revenue and enable the district to add educational programs.

She said she would advocate having a guaranteed Hermosa Beach position on a unified school board to ensure that Hermosa Beach--the smallest of the four districts--would have a voice in running a unified district. She said she would consider running for such a position.

Gonzales is opposed to selling any portion of the South School site or other surplus school property for development. “That’s why I ran in the beginning, and that’s why I’m running now,” she said. “I feel the city is already dense enough.”

* Gregory J. Kelsey, 44, a 17-year resident of Hermosa Beach, is a commercial mortgage banker whose daughter is a fourth-grade student at Hermosa Valley School.

Kelsey said he is opposed to unification. “I really don’t want to see a true unification,” he said. “I want (the schools) to maintain individual control.” Instead, he advocates consolidation of janitorial, maintenance and other services among the school districts as a cost-saving measure.

Kelsey said he would use his financial background to help the district get the most from its excess school sites. He said he is opposed to selling surplus sites, and that the district might better benefit by holding onto valuable land and leasing it, as it already does at two sites.

“The school board has a fiduciary responsibility to provide as much income as possible to the schools,” Kelsey said. “Our whole job is to make sure kids get the best education possible.”

* Incumbent Mary Lou Weiss, 51, is seeking her second term on the board. Weiss has one child who graduated from district schools and another who is in eighth grade at Hermosa Valley. A longtime school activist, she is a former president of the North School Parent Teacher Organization and chairwoman of the school’s Art at Your Fingertips volunteer art education program.

Weiss said she and the board are waiting for the consultant’s study before taking a formal position on unification.

“We need to have an unbiased opinion,” she said, adding that if the board “had our choice, we would prefer it to stay as it is . . . and we would like to petition legislators to be able to send students to either Mira Costa or Redondo Union High School.”

Some families live closer to Mira Costa than to Redondo Union and would prefer having the option of sending their children to the closer school, Weiss said.

Weiss said whether the district has the funds to buy the Multivision property to help solve the overcrowding problem could depend on the outcome of negotiations with the city on the sale of the South School site.

“Unless we are successful with the negotiations with the city, we would not have the money,” Weiss said.

THE CANDIDATES Bill Druar

Board challenger

Age: 46

Occupation: electronic technician, businessman

Lynne Gonzales

Board incumbent

Age: 42

Occupation: private school secretary

Gregory J. Kelsey

Board challenger

Age: 44

Occupation: commercial mortgage banker

Mary Lou Weiss

Board incumbent

Age: 51

Longtime school activist