ELECTIONS / PENINSULA SCHOOLS : Consolidation Fight Over but Still a Hot Issue for Candidates

On paper, the long and bitter fight about consolidating three Palos Verdes Peninsula high schools into a single, 3,000-student campus is finally over: Classes at the new high school started last month.

But debate about the move is raging in this fall’s race for two seats on the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District governing board.

On Nov. 5, two board members who backed consolidation--property manager Jack Bagdasar and bank president Joseph Sanford--face a pair of challengers who opposed it--Joan Davidson, a part-time teacher, and Barry Hildebrand, an aerospace executive.

Bagdasar and Sanford say the board’s unanimous vote for consolidation last year was a necessary response to budget shortages brought on by shrinking enrollment. The incumbents argue that they should be returned to office to continue what they call the clear success so far of the consolidation.

“The district is headed in the right direction financially and educationally,” said Sanford, 54, a Palos Verdes Estates resident who has served on the board since 1987. “But the job isn’t done yet.”

Said Bagdasar, 68, an eight-year board member from Rancho Palos Verdes currently serving as the panel’s president: “We have to see this consolidation effort through.”

Davidson and Hildebrand say they would not try to reverse the new high school scheme, since it is already in place. But they fault the board for pushing consolidation in the face of public opposition, then failing to address related problems that range, they say, from campus parking shortages to crowded drama classes.

“Unless (board members) invented it or it’s acceptable to them, they don’t want to hear from you,” said Hildebrand, a 58-year-old Rancho Palos Verdes resident who helped lead community opposition to consolidation. “With consolidation, they just went ahead and did the deed and now they have these problems.”

Said Davidson, 44, a resident of Palos Verdes Estates: “We have no choice but to accept (consolidation), but we have to enhance what we’ve got. What the school board says is: ‘There are no problems. Look at the great job we’ve done.’ ”

High school consolidation is not the only issue in the race for the peninsula board, which oversees eight elementary schools, two intermediate schools, a continuation high school and Palos Verdes Peninsula High, the consolidated high school.

Davidson says the board’s budget priorities are skewed. While the district is spending $138,000 on salary and benefits for Supt. Michael Caston, she asserts, elementary school students are running short of such basic supplies as paper, pencils and crayons.

Hildebrand, meanwhile, criticizes the board for failing to aggressively lease out surplus school property--depriving the district, he says, of money that could be used to hire more teachers.

Among the examples he cites is the 43-acre Dapplegray Intermediate School in Rolling Hills Estates, which stands vacant though it was closed nearly five years ago. He says he fears the board is dragging its heels so it can later make a case for selling the deteriorating school, a move that he and Davidson say they would oppose.

“Selling is not in my vocabulary for school properties,” Hildebrand said. “You have to save it for future generations.”

Said Davidson: “If you sell it, the money goes to a fund that has restrictions (imposed by the state). If we lease it, we could have a continual source of income for our general fund each year.”

The two incumbents reject such criticism. Addressing the question of spending priorities, Bagdasar says the panel has subjected the district’s central administration to painful austerity measures to free as much money as possible for the classroom.

Board-ordered cuts in the district’s central office this year--including layoffs of 15 employees and the elimination of a computer system--are saving the school system $700,000 annually, he says.

And on the issue of surplus property, Sanford says there is no intention to sell the Dapplegray site. Bagdasar says the economy has foiled good-faith efforts by the district to lease the land.

“We have taken every measure to rent (out) that site,” Bagdasar said. “We’ve had a lot of bites, but no takers.”

Despite such sparring, debate in the school board contest inevitably turns to the subject of high school consolidation, one of the district’s most controversial decisions ever.

In the consolidation, the district closed Palos Verdes and Miraleste high schools and moved the students to its third high school campus, formerly called Rolling Hills High. The district also closed two intermediate schools, Malaga Cove and Ridgecrest, and moved those students to the Palos Verdes and Miraleste campuses.

The actions came in response to a dizzying decline in the district’s student enrollment, from a peak of 17,836 in the 1973-74 school year to 8,705 today, and a resulting $3-million budget deficit last year. Two parent groups, one led by Hildebrand, tried unsuccessfully to fight the decision in court.

Although the challengers say they have no choice but to accept consolidation, they assert that the board could have done more to avoid taking such a drastic step. For example, the district could have considered levying a parcel tax to provide stopgap financing while weighing alternatives to consolidation, they say.

With the district’s three high schools folded into one, they charge, peninsula high school students have fewer opportunities.

“There are 60 kids on the newspaper staff, so you can imagine how many kids get articles in,” Davidson said. “And in drama (classes) there are 96 and kids are dropping out. It makes me sad.”

Hildebrand said: “You’ve created one high school out of three, so you’ve virtually reduced opportunity by a factor of three. . . . We’re not looking out for the students’ real needs.”

Whether such views are held by a majority of voters is an open question, Hildebrand acknowledges. “I hope it is,” he said. “But I just don’t know how to measure it or how strong it is.”

The two incumbents say that if the challengers were genuinely concerned about the peninsula’s high school students, they should have supported the change.

With consolidation, Sanford says, the district is saving $2.3 million annually in staff and overhead costs. Coupled with the district office cuts, that erased the $3-million deficit and promises to improve schooling, he says, not hurt it.

“Consolidating facilities allows us to put more money, not less money, into the classroom,” Sanford says. “Under (the challengers’) plan, more dollars would have to go into overhead instead of the classroom. . . . I think there’s more opportunity than ever.”

Bagdasar agrees, although he acknowledges that in some areas, the creation of a single high school has inevitably meant fewer openings.

“Obviously, you only have one football team,” he said. “So the competition, let’s face it, is higher. That’s just the reality of consolidation.”

As does Hildebrand, Bagdasar says he cannot forecast how consolidation will play at the polls: “Some parents still hold onto the pain, and I’m sure they will show their continued pain when they vote. But I don’t know, I’m not a prophet.”

Candidates for Palos Verdes School Board

Two challengers are running against two incumbents for two seats on the Palos Verdes

Peninsula Unified School District governing board in the Nov. 5 election.

Jack Bagdasar

Incumbent

Age: 68

Occupation: Property manager

“We have to see this consolidation effort through. . . . Some parents still hold onto the pain, and I’m sure they will show their continued pain when they vote. But I don’t know, I’m not a prophet.’

Joan Davidson

Challenger

Age: 44

Occupation: Part-time teacher

“We have no choice but to accept (consolidation), but we have to enhance what we’ve got. What the school board says is: ‘There are no problems. Look at the great job we’ve done.’ ”

Joseph Sanford

Incumbent

Age: 54

Occupation: Bank president

“Consolidating facilities allows us to put more money, not less money, into the classroom. Under (the challengers’) plan, more dollars would have to go into overhead instead of the classroom. . . . I think there’s more opportunity than ever.”

Barry Hildebrand

Challenger

Age: 58

Occupation: Aerospace executive

“Unless (board members) invented it or it’s acceptable to them, they don’t want to hear from you. With consolidation, they just went ahead and did the deed and now they have these problems.”