MOORPARK : School Offered to City for $7.5 Million

The Moorpark Board of Education offered Tuesday to sell the old high school to the city for $7.5 million. The offer included the buildings and all land but the school’s gymnasium and hard courts, which the school district has agreed to sell to the Moorpark Boys and Girls Club for $500,000.

The offer came during an open committee meeting between board members and the City Council. Included in the proposal was a down payment of $1 million, with the balance to be paid over 15 years.

Board member Cynthia Hubbard said she was encouraged by the session. “I think we moved ahead some. Before, the answer was always ‘No, they weren’t interested.’ ”

Tuesday’s open meeting was the first time the public could listen to negotiations, although no time was allotted for public comment. A recent interpretation of the state’s Brown Act calls for committees to follow the same guidelines for open meetings as the board or council, district Supt. Tom Duffy said.

Councilman Clint Harper said he would bring the board’s offer before the City Council tonight. The subcommittees agreed to meet again Thursday.

Board member Tom Baldwin indicated that the district would be willing to negotiate the price and terms “as long as the district can take the financing to the bank and borrow against it to build new schools.”

The high school property on Casey Road, now used as a continuation high school, has been at the heart of a legal tug-of-war between the district and the city for more than two years.