Superintendent of Schools to Leave

Supt. Douglas Keeler of the Manhattan Beach City School District has been named superintendent of the Claremont Unified School District. He expects to begin his new $89,500-a-year job by July 1, after he helps recruit his successor.

Keeler, 45, has been superintendent of the Manhattan Beach district, which has 2,200 students in kindergarten through eighth grade, since 1986. His salary was $78,000 a year.

Keeler, who was recruited for the Claremont post, said he is reluctant to leave Manhattan Beach because he likes his job and there are still things to accomplish in the district, including possible unification with school districts in Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach.

However, Keeler said the opportunity to head a 6,200-student district, including high school grades, is too good to pass up.

Barbara Dunsmoor, president of the Manhattan Beach school board, said the board regrets losing Keeler but understands that the Claremont job “is a marvelous opportunity for him.”

Keeler said the Manhattan Beach district is gaining students after a drastic enrollment drop in the 1970s and early 1980s. He said the district “is in good shape right now” and has resolved its financial problems by selling or leasing unused school sites and by arranging for the city of Manhattan Beach to pay school maintenance costs in return for use of playing fields and a swimming pool.