Peninsula’s 3-in-1 High School Is Ready : Consolidation: Officials say the single 3,000-student campus will eliminate the district’s budget deficit. But some parents and teachers worry about crowding and parking problems.

After four years of fighting at school board meetings, kaffeeklatsches and finally in court, the much-debated plan to consolidate Palos Verdes Peninsula’s three high schools becomes a reality when school opens Sept. 5.

On that day, an estimated 3,000 students will converge on the hillside campus that last year was called Rolling Hills High and accommodated only 1,300 students. The greatly expanded school--its colors gold, black and white and its mascot a panther--will be called Palos Verdes Peninsula High.

Consolidation critics fear that traffic and parking will create nightmares, that buildings will overflow with teen-agers, that competition for varsity athletic teams will be staggering, and that the food services staff might be unable to feed all the youngsters at lunch time.

District officials disagree, insisting that the combined resources of three schools will improve academic and extracurricular opportunities for area students. They acknowledge that there will be some problems, but say their contingency plans will soften the negative impacts.

Besides, “we’d be bankrupt it we didn’t consolidate,” said Carleen Vose, the district’s financial officer.

Faced with declining enrollments as the Baby Boom generation grew up, schools all over the state have been forced to consolidate. But this is the first such experience on the wealthy peninsula, where fewer and fewer young families can afford to move.

Enrollment in kindergarten through high school sank to 9,000 last year, down from 18,000 only 15 years ago. This loss of students has put severe strain on the district budget, creating a $3.5-million deficit.

“Times are so tough, people knew drastic steps had to be taken. . . . This (consolidation) means we will end up in the black this year,” said Jon R. Knickerbocker, the district’s deputy superintendent. He said implementation of the consolidation plans is “moving ahead nicely . . . and we’re optimistic.”

The consolidation shut down Palos Verdes and Miraleste high schools. It also closed two intermediate schools, Malaga Cove and Ridgecrest. Intermediate students from those schools will move onto the campuses of the two closed high schools.

The consolidation is expected to virtually wipe out the deficit in the district’s $30-million budget. Ninety-eight staff layoffs--including 68 teaching positions and 10 administrative posts--will save an estimated $2.5 million. Most of the teachers laid off were on either probation or temporary status, officials said.

The district has closed several elementary and intermediate schools in recent years, but when officials announced plans four years ago to close just one of the three high schools, a furor arose. Irate parents sued but failed to block the closure. By the time a Superior Court judge ruled in the district’s favor last April, the board had decided to merge all three high schools into one campus.

Even consolidation’s worst critics agree that years of declining enrollment and red ink required drastic action. But they argue that creating one big high school will cause more problems than it solves.

Cutting staff and crowding so many students onto a single campus will generate a “very impersonal environment” with large classes and overworked teachers who “won’t have time to counsel students,” said Maryanne Kipper of Rancho Palos Verdes, one of the plan’s many opponents.

Three thousand students and more than 100 teachers will create “unbelievable parking problems,” Kipper said. “It will be horrible for the kids and for people living in the area. . . . This is absolutely the worst alternative.”

Opponents wanted the district to eliminate only one high school, leaving two medium-sized campuses. “That would have saved the same amount of money,” said Martin Melnick of Rancho Palos Verdes.

One high school means one varsity team in each sport instead of three, giving only a select few students the opportunity to make the first team, Melnick pointed out.

“There will be no way to measure the opportunities that will be lost,” he said.

But Kelly Johnson, the school’s new principal, said combining the resources of three schools in one place enables him to offer broader, deeper academic programs and a wider range of extracurricular activities.

To handle the increased parking needs and control the number of cars coming on campus, Johnson doubled student parking capacity to 400 spaces and ordered all the spaces reserved for car pools. No car with fewer than three students will be permitted to park on campus. Violators will be ticketed by police, he said.

Satellite parking will be available seven miles away at the old Palos Verdes High campus, along with a free shuttle bus courtesy of the city of Palos Verdes Estates, Johnson said.

The school also is adding a “zero period” that will give students the option of starting their day at 7 a.m. and help relieve overcrowding by convening classes one extra hour per day, Johnson said.

Class size in the core subjects will average 31 to 33 students. Seventeen portable classrooms have been added to the campus to handle the student load, he said.

Already, the merger is paying off in the computerized scheduling of classes, according to Johnson. With more classes available, the schedules for 95% of the students have been completed.

But teachers who will begin living with the changes this fall are skeptical about the rosy picture painted by district officials, according to union leaders.

“Since it hasn’t happened yet, we just have to wait and see,” said Lauren Sanders, executive director of the South Bay United Teachers.

“Everyone is anxious to make it work, but it is going to be pretty difficult,” he said. “We have the same concerns as everyone. . . . The facilities will be terribly crowded; the buildings there are not sufficient to house all the students.”

District officials are also predicting benefits for students at the intermediate level, where more room and better equipment are expected to yield expanded academic and extracurricular programs, according to Mike Escalante, principal of the new Palos Verdes Intermediate School.

Foreign-language instruction will be expanded, with intermediate schools offering advanced classes in Spanish and French and introductory courses in other languages.

Both junior and senior high students will be given orientation programs before school opens. The high school orientation will be Aug. 27 and 28. Intermediate sessions are scheduled Sept. 3.