FOUNTAIN VALLEY : Trustees to Vote on Relocation of School

Huntington Beach Union High School District trustees are expected to vote tonight on whether to move Wintersburg Continuation High School to the campus of Fountain Valley High School.

For months, angry Fountain Valley parents have been protesting the proposed relocation of the school, which serves students with behavioral, academic and attendance problems. Wintersburg is now next door to Ocean View High School in Huntington Beach.

“We are just stressing that these kids obviously have problems--that’s why they are at Wintersburg in the first place,” said Corlie Guild, leader of the 30-member Fountain Valley group opposing the move.

“There’s no way, with them putting the two schools so close together, that the two groups of kids won’t be mingling, and what happens with this is that kids on the borderline at Fountain Valley will be tempted to cross over.”

The proposed lease of the land now occupied by Wintersburg is a part of the district’s effort to raise revenues in the wake of declining enrollment. The district stands to earn $1 million a year on a 60-year lease of Wintersburg and 15 acres that surround the school, district officials said.

Both Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley school districts have been hit hard by declining enrollment. The Fountain Valley school district has had to close eight schools during the last 10 years.