Palos Verdes District Expects Big Crowd for School Closure Hearing

Anticipating a large crowd, Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District board members decided Monday to use a high school gymnasium to hold a public hearing on school closures.

The hearing--the final step in completing an environmental impact report on school closures districtwide--will be held at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 25 in the Rolling Hills High School gym.

Besides being larger than the board’s regular meeting room, the gymnasium is wired so that the hearing can be broadcast on the local cable television channel.

“The public needs to know this is one of the most important meetings this district has gone through in the last four or five years,” school board member Jeff Younggren said Tuesday. “We want to make sure there is a major forum for people to communicate.”

The hearing is the outcome of a ruling handed down more than two years ago by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Miriam Vogel. The judge ordered the board to prepare the environmental report after it decided to shut down Miraleste High School because of declining enrollment. In recent years, the district has closed seven schools.

Vogel’s order, which prohibited the district from closing Miraleste High until the report was complete, was a victory for parents who have fought to keep the school open. The board has since rescinded its vote to close the high school, the only one on the east side of the peninsula.

The night after the Sept. 25 hearing, the board will meet again in the gymnasium to discuss the report and perhaps cast a tentative vote on whether to approve it. A third meeting has been scheduled for Oct. 3, when a final vote on the report is expected.

At the third meeting, the board is also expected to vote on a long-term plan for the district, which could include consolidating various campuses in coming years. The board could also decide again to close Miraleste High.

Acting Supt. Wayne Butterbaugh said district officials believe that the environmental report does not need to be approved by a judge, but he said it could be challenged by opponents of school closures.

People who cannot attend the public hearing can submit written comments to the district’s headquarters at 3801 Via La Selva, Palos Verdes Estates, 90274. Comments must be received by Aug. 17.

In other business, board members unanimously approved a three-year contract for Supt. Michael W. Caston, who was selected two weeks ago. Caston will be paid $115,000 a year and receive a $500-a-month car allowance.

Caston’s salary is $15,000 more than his predecessor, Jack Price, was paid. Price resigned last October amid allegations that the district had engaged in improper business practices.