Norwalk : Board Decides to Open 3 Middle Schools by 1993

The Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District board has voted 6-1 to open three middle schools by September, 1993. The schools will be for students in grades six through eight, and will allow the district to replace the current system of keeping seventh-graders in elementary school and putting eighth-graders in high school.

Board members said that middle schools provide a better format for educating pupils, that sixth- and seventh-graders are too old for elementary school and eighth-graders too young for high school. The district is one of the last in the state to adopt middle schools.

The cost of the change will be about $3 million per school, Deputy Supt. Howard Rainey said. A likely source of funding would be certificates of participation, a type of bond, Assistant Supt. Ginger Shattuck said.

The three sites targeted for conversion to middle schools are Corvallis, a vacant campus; Benton, which is being leased to a Christian school, and Nettie L. Waite Elementary School.

Board member Jesse Luera said he opposed the resolution because he was worried that the new set-up could force neighborhood elementary schools to close. He said he was also concerned that the cost of the changeover could lead to a tax increase.