Trustees Study Fate of 2 Campuses

Palos Verdes school board members Monday will discuss what should be done with two intermediate schools when they are closed this summer.

A residents’ advisory group recommended Tuesday that the Malaga Cove Intermediate School campus in Palos Verdes Estates either be leased or sold to a private school when it is closed.

The 11-member group also recommended that the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District retain the Ridgecrest Intermediate School campus in Rancho Palos Verdes in case it is needed in future years to house students. However, the panel suggested the campus be leased for a term not to exceed five years so the site will generate money for the school district.

The two schools are being closed because of declining enrollment in the district. Starting next fall, intermediate students will be reassigned to the Miraleste and Palos Verdes high school campuses. All high school students will attend Rolling Hills High School, which will be renamed Palos Verdes Peninsula High School.

The Malaga Cove and Ridgecrest campuses each sit on about 14 acres. Under terms of a deed restriction, all but five acres of the Malaga Cove site must be used for school purposes, according to John White, the school district’s manager of support services. There is no deed restriction on the Ridgecrest property.